The Silver Cage Page 11

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘Well, that’s the usual way it happens. Jude, the girl you met yesterday, Doc’s other trainee, she has had some awful times with lycs. Won’t even say much about it.’

  Iris took a sip of her drink. ‘And you? Did something happen to you?’

  ‘Nah,’ said Blake, leaning back. ‘I’m an anomaly, babe. A lyc hunter without an axe to grind. So, anyway, shall I do the big reveal?’

  ‘The big what?’

  ‘The big reveal. I love it when I get to be the one who does this to someone. Shall I tell you the truth about the world? You’ve found out lycs are real. Want to know the rest?’

  ‘The r-rest?’ Iris swallowed. ‘Sure.’

  ‘OK. First thing you need to know. There really is magic. Actual magic. Anyone can learn to do it, but witches are the fucking experts. And, yeah, there really are witches. I don’t mean like pagans or druids or any of that shit. Not hippy crap. Witches. Great and terrible. It’s kind of hot, in a weird way. They’re powerful like you can’t imagine, practically omniscient. They’re tricky fucking bitches. If they’re on your side, great; if they’re not, well, you’d probably be dead before you found out.’

  ‘God.’ Iris thought for a second. Then, feeling a bit silly, she said, ‘What about, er, vampires? Are vampires real?’

  Blake smiled. ‘Ah, that’s a weird one. Yeah, they are. But here’s the thing, lycs and witches are mythical. Like, officially they don’t exist, even though they, obviously, do. Vamps used to be the same, but Vampires got reclassified about twenty years ago – at least in this country – as non-mythical. I mean, only in secret of course. No one’s going to announce that. But the powers-that-be accept that they are real. They even fund this sort of clandestine organisation – well, I say clandestine, it’s actually part of the Home Office – called Cobalt to keep the peace with them. Vampires don’t interact much with humans, anyway.’

  ‘How come vampires were reclassified and lycs and witches weren’t, though?’

  ‘No one really knows. The rumour is that the vamps wanted it, set it up. Vamps are immortal so most of their clans are rich as fuck. Like the church, well, except not.’

  ‘Cobalt. God. Real vampire hunters? Part of the government? So what are Cobalt like?’

  ‘Rich is what they’re like, bloody rich – compared to us scrabbling out of the Doc’s basement. I met them once, Erin and Charles Cobalt, they run it. Greatest vampire hunters in the world – a married couple fighting against the dark.’ Blake winked at Iris. ‘So romantic. Or it would be if they weren’t the freakiest pair of fuckers I ever met. They defeated Darius Cole about twenty-odd years ago – this uber-scary vamp who massed an army and tried to enslave humanity.’

  ‘Yuk. So is he dead now, this Cole creature?’

  ‘Really dead or vampire dead?’

  ‘Really dead, like not here, not going to enslave humanity.’

  ‘No. No he isn’t. Cobalt gave him to the Vampire Clan Council and the Council sentenced him to live. I think that’s a vamp thing. A vamp punishment. They keep him alive. You know, forever. To suffer.’

  Iris shuddered visibly. ‘Ew.’

  ‘Yeah, well, it’s gross. Vamps are so gross. They fund the people who hunt them. Ick. Perverts.’ Blake stopped and took a pull of his pint. He shrugged. ‘But, really, it’s not actually so strange that vampires would fund them. Humans are probably the best creatures to keep rogue vamps under control. Vamps are really powerful because of the mind-control stuff, but the sunlight thing is a huge vulnerability. Find them while the sun’s up and you don’t even need a stake. Just open the curtains.’

  ‘That is so weird. Vampires fund the vampire hunters.’ She shook her head.

  Back in her bedroom at Cobalt, as she waited for Cate to answer her phone, Iris thought how, when she had that conversation with Blake she had no idea that their werewolf-hunting operation was headed by a werewolf. Dr Tobias himself was the Beast, Iris’s nemesis, the wolf she wanted to kill with all her heart. But she wouldn’t find out the truth for eleven years.

  All that time. All that time.

  ‘Cate,’ Iris said urgently into the coms when a voice answered, ‘he won’t tell me where he is. And now he knows we’re tracing the chip. I think he might try to remove it. We need to do the amplification urgently.’

  ‘OK. I’m on it right now,’ said Cate. ‘It’s being done as we speak. Get mobile and try to get a trace as soon as possible.’

  28

  Thursday, 21 February 2008

  IRIS WAS USED to orders. She knew the power and efficiency of chains of command. Debate had its place, but so did obedience.

  Vikram was driving, as Iris was jacking his MCD into a Cobalt laptop. She was like a machine, snapping from task to task. It all came back to her in a rush. She was trained to do this.

  Once, in bed, talking about work, Alfie had said, ‘Damn, Iris, sometimes you’re so freaking sci-fi.’

  And Iris laughed and kissed him and said, ‘Well, you’re so bloody medieval, werewolf.’

  Now she looked at the map on the glowing screen and muttered, ‘God, Alfie, come on.’

  The three coms sets they had used in the cellar to chip themselves had been Iris’s, Blake’s and the spare they used to keep in the glove compartment of their truck. Iris knew that the chip that she had put under her own skin, the one Blake had used to trace her, had been the one from her own coms set. But she wasn’t sure which of the other two chips Blake had stuck into Alfie.

  At least it was all compatible with Cobalt equipment. She typed the codes of both into the tracking program and watched the screen, not really daring to hope. Alfie.

  It took a while. Vikram drove the SUV in lazy circles, drifting wider and wider.

  They were on the North Circular when Iris said, ‘Oh.’

  ‘You got something?’

  ‘Yes. I think. But it’s moving.’

  ‘Where is it?’

  ‘West. Heading west. It’s outside London. Still inside the M25. Pick up the A40.’ Iris touched the little flashing set of co-ordinates on her laptop screen. ‘But if it’s moving that must mean he dug it out.’

  ‘Maybe he’s moving.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Iris wished she knew for sure, but the only thing she really knew was that this little signal was pretty much all she had left of Alfie that wasn’t as intangible as a dream.

  The Divine stood staring at Alfie. Her fight with Sabrina hadn’t turned to magic – but it had been vicious. Both women were shaking with rage – rage that seemed to amplify ten-fold when they saw that Leon was gone.

  Sabrina said, ‘He tricked us. This was a plan. His plan.’ She pointed a perfect finger at Alfie. ‘We ought to kill him.’

  The fatal magic was already taking shape when the Divine shouted, ‘No! We need him. He’s crucial.’

  Sabrina stifled the spell and a few wisps of it bounced across the cage and hit Alfie. He yelped as it grazed his arm right where Leon had dug out the chip.

  The Divine looked at him, peering at the spot. Alfie’s body was so scarred and injured that she hadn’t noticed this new damage before. She furrowed her brow. ‘You dug that chip out of your arm? Why?’

  Sabrina said, ‘Is there someone you don’t want to find you, werewolf?’

  Alfie opened his mouth but didn’t speak.

  ‘He’s losing it,’ said the Divine. ‘I don’t think he’s capable of telling us anything. You might be wrong about his planning his cub’s escape. Leon was always the wild one. Alfie?’

  Alfie looked at her, ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  The Divine moved closer. ‘Did you help him escape?’

  Alfie looked blank.

  The Divine moved closer still and unlocked the chains on Alfie’s wrists. ‘Give me a stone or something, Sab,’ she said over her shoulder.

  Sabrina pulled a large football-sized boulder out of the air and passed it to the Divine, who set it in Alfie’s newly released left hand.

  ‘I kno
w you can’t escape those chains,’ the Divine said slowly, ‘but this escape has made me realise I can’t get complacent. Smash your hand, Alfie.’

  There was a tiny flash. The Divine had pulled the thrall tight, but a voice somewhere inside Alfie screamed at him not to do it. Screamed and screamed as he hefted the boulder in his left hand and brought it down hard on his right.

  While Alfie was still howling with pain, the Divine roughly chained his left arm to the bars of the cage and turned to go. ‘We don’t need your cub anyway,’ she said, walking away. ‘And soon we will begin the collection . . . and your problems will really begin, Beast.’

  29

  IRIS DOZED IN the passenger seat. Vikram had connected the signal from the chip into the SUV’s sat nav. They’d never had sat nav at the Institute. The disembodied voice giving directions was strangely soothing. They had been on the road for hours, sliding down the M5 towards the West Country, through Devon and into Cornwall.

  Time was slipping away. It was still dark outside, but dawn was coming.

  She thought she might connect with Alfie again, but she only got fragments. He didn’t seem to know she was there. He was saying something about his hand. His hand hurt. Pain. That was all she could sense. Pain. But she couldn’t fathom what that meant.

  She was drifting a little when Vikram said, ‘So, this werewolf that is your boyfriend. Not your ex, like you said, your boyfriend. Still. When the Divine took him.’

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘I found some more stuff in Tabernacle’s files. After you killed the Beast, you went on leave. There’s a lot written by him about whether or not you should be allowed back. Particularly the fact that you are “sucking Alfie’s dick”. That’s him, isn’t it? The unstable wolf?’

  ‘Yes,’ Iris said softly, ‘yes it is.’

  ‘So you are a sniffer?’

  ‘No. I don’t think so. It’s not werewolves. It’s just him.’

  ‘Did he tell you that you were his life mate? I hear that’s what lycs do to seduce women.’

  ‘No, no, nothing like that. He doesn’t believe in life mates.’ Iris looked out of the window at the street-light-scattered darkness. ‘I think I do, though.’

  ‘But you’ve lost him to the Divine,’ Vikram said. ‘I’ve been reading up on that too. She’ll have so much hold over him. He’s her heir now. Beast cub becomes Ancient Beast. You’ve killed all the Ancient Beasts, haven’t you?’

  ‘I don’t know. No one knows for sure. But when she came for him . . .’ Iris felt her throat start to ache. ‘Her hold over him seemed very strong.’

  ‘So he can’t love you any more. Not while she’s alive.’

  ‘And, according to the only prophecy on the subject, if I kill her, I die.’

  ‘Sheesh,’ said Vikram. ‘The gods don’t make it easy for you guys, huh?’

  Iris laughed at her own reflection in the black window. ‘No,’ she said, her voice hollow. ‘No.’

  She felt Vikram’s hand on her back. Straining in the dark glass she couldn’t make out his reflected eyes. ‘You thought about moving on yet?’

  ‘Well, not exactly. I mean, I’m in the middle of a cross-country dash to save him.’

  ‘You really think the signal’s him?’

  ‘I don’t know. Look, can we talk about something else. How do vamps have sex?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You said vamps are drawn to human sex because they don’t have sex like humans do. So what do they do? They do have sex, right?’

  ‘They do, kind of, they do this thing called blood rites.’

  Iris turned around in her seat to look at him as the sat nav gently told them to turn left.

  ‘They can do all the normal sex stuff. Fucking. Everything like that. But their big thing is biting. They bite at the point of orgasm. Well, the bite is the orgasm really.’

  ‘Weird,’ said Iris.

  The atmosphere in the SUV was suddenly taut with charge. Iris’s mouth was dry.

  ‘Touch yourself,’ said Vikram, his hands steady on the steering wheel. ‘I know you want to. This paranormal stuff gets you hot, doesn’t it?’

  ‘No,’ said Iris, knowing she meant yes, knowing she was wet already. She couldn’t fathom why. Vikram was . . . Something in the tone of his voice. She didn’t know how to say no to him. It was like he knew what she wanted in a dark place inside, and just lifted it forwards. She looked back at the black window again, and gasped at what she saw.

  ‘Go on,’ said Vikram. ‘I know you need to. Talking about Alfie and now about this. It’s in the air. You need to come or you won’t be able to concentrate. Whatever you think of me, my orders are to bring Alfie Friday in alive – that’s going to be my priority. You don’t have to worry about me distracting you from your mission. It’s my mission too.’ As he spoke, Vikram obeyed the gentle voice of the sat nav and pulled over on a patch of rubbly ground.

  Iris slipped one hand down the front of her trousers. Her head was fogged suddenly. She fought to remember what she had realised a moment ago. ‘No,’ she said, even as she was doing it. ‘No, this isn’t right. Isn’t what I want.’

  ‘What you want is to give in to me,’ Vikram said, still soft, still telling her hidden truths.

  Iris slipped her fingers into the heat of her cunt, her liquid centre. She thought of Vikram. Of looking out at the dark night. Of her reflection in the window. And Vikram, Vikram hadn’t had one. No reflection. As she touched herself, she murmured, ‘You’re a vampire.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Vikram said, super-soft.

  ‘And you used your mind control on me. You’re using it on me now.’

  ‘Oh, only a little. Mind control is a wonderful thing, Iris. You think that morphial connector of yours would work without it?’

  Vikram sighed and Iris heard a voice in her head: Iris.

  ‘Alfie?’ He was there, she knew it, strong and real. She looked at Vikram and spoke to him – it was like she was in two places at once. ‘Are you doing this?’

  ‘Imagine this is his hand,’ Vikram said, as he popped his seat belt and reached over, pulling her hand from beneath her waistband and replacing it with his own.

  ‘But his hands are so big. His fingers are like . . . Oh!’

  Alfie’s hands were on her then. She felt them. So real. Twisting against her hot sticky flesh. He was over her. His body. His face looked surprised, confused as to where he was. And drowning in his own arousal. ‘Where are you, Alfie?’ Iris murmured. ‘Are we following you?’

  Don’t. Please. Don’t try to . . . Alfie said. He was kissing her. Biting at her neck. Her chin. Her jaw. God, she wanted him. The real him. Not this. Not just this, this dream, this underwater love. She wanted him hard and real for her. Alfie was flesh, not mind. Alfie was animal. Power and heart and heat and grunt. This wasn’t enough. And yet . . .

  Sex with Alfie was beautiful. Utterly amazing. But she wanted to be with him. She felt his fingers slip inside her and heard him say softly, My hand. My hand’s broken.

  But it didn’t feel broken. Two, three fingers inside her, his thumb on her clit. So good, too good. He made her come.

  Iris bucked and rolled, in Alfie’s arms, and Vikram, on top of her, leant in and broke the skin in her neck. She felt it, but it felt fine and good. He cried out hard as he pulled away from the bite, convulsing too.

  Iris sighed and wiped the blood away with her hand.

  The SUV was parked in front of some thin-looking trees facing a gravelly track. Across the track was a small wooden hut. ‘That’s where the chip is,’ Vikram said, nodding. ‘It’s stopped moving.’

  ‘OK,’ Iris said, blushing.

  ‘I’m sorry. I had to do that. It seemed like the best way to call him to you. Sex.’ Vikram shrugged. ‘Werewolves, you know. And reading him in you was the only way I could get a fix on him. He’s not in there. Not in that hut. I could sense how close he was.’

  ‘Then what have we been following?’

  Vikram reached over the back
of his seat, pulled out Iris’s crossbow and handed it to her. ‘Let’s find out.’

  30

  IT WAS EASY. After the event Iris found herself wondering if it was because Vikram could read her mind. But, whether it was that or simply a set of smooth paramilitary moves from two people who worked for the same organisation, Iris wasn’t sure.

  In quick succession, they prowled over to the cabin in the dark. Vikram kicked the door open, and Iris sprang through it with the crossbow locked and loaded. And Leon, yes, of course it was Leon – the missing piece – fell to his knees with his arms raised next to the bed in the tiny wooden cabin.

  He looked at Iris with a sly grin, ‘Vixy. How are you? Sire told me he’d left you to die in some hole in the ground.’

  ‘Yeah, well, your sire’s spectacularly bad at killing me.’

  ‘Ha. I hear that’s kind of mutual. In fact, I hear there was even talk of you two being life mates before . . . oh dear, did the Divine Wolf come along and enthral your puppy dog?’ Leon grinned with all his teeth showing. ‘Nasty!’

  ‘Oh, whatever, Leon. I’m not interested,’ Iris said, speaking fast, as though it might cover up the sound of her heart breaking.

  ‘Oh, over him, are you? Got a new man?’ Leon jerked his head at Vikram, still in the doorway. ‘One who smells like . . .? Damn, dude, you smell like a cadaver . . . Oh. My. God.’ He turned to Iris. ‘Oh, God, seriously? Gross. Sniffer and bloodfucker in one fucked-up bitch? What the hell? Should have known not to put anything past you, Vixy.’

  Iris didn’t say anything. What was there to say. Deny it? Who cared what this stupid lyc thought. And then she saw Leon furtively glance at the richly patterned thin rug in the middle of the wooden floor. It was only a brief glimpse – but it was enough for Iris to wonder why he did it.

  ‘So,’ said Vikram from the doorway, ‘are you going to tell us where he is?’

  Leon looked at them shiftily again, then another lightning glimpse at the carpet. ‘No,’ he said firmly.

  Iris exchanged glances with Vikram, who made it clear he’d seen the furtive glances too. ‘OK, OK, doggie. What’s under the rug?’