Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) (28 page)

Great.
 
I was just a freak.
 
Now I wasn’t a shifter or a human.
 
Could my week possibly get any worse?
 

I noticed that Lucy was looking concerned
but trying very hard to keep her gaze focused on the portal.
 
At least the distance between us and the
hum of the
gate,
meant that she wouldn’t have heard
any of my conversation with Alex.
 
I
tried to look nonchalant and unconcerned by crossing my legs and leaning
back.
 
Unfortunately I was feeling
anything but that.
 
Alex stood up
and walked towards the water’s edge.
 
I had to admit that part of me wondered if he was trying to stay away
from me now that I was clearly something very strange indeed.
 
Perhaps I was contagious.
 
The pit of my stomach felt warm with
hurt and confusion.
 
And then I
wondered if the fire I felt in my blood when I got worked up, wasn’t just a
side-effect
of a red-head’s fiery temper.
 
Maybe it was something else.
 
Maybe I was a monster.
 
Maybe that’s why it was my fault that
John was dead.

I lost myself in my thoughts.
 
At some point Alex came and sat back
down next to me but I barely registered him.
 
At least he left me in peace to sort through
what I was thinking.
 
After a while
I roused myself slightly, however, and looked at him.
 
I thought I’d ask him what he thought
about my bloodfire, and whether it might be connected somehow to everything
else.
 
In fact, I’d even drawn a
breath to speak when, all of a sudden, the ripples in the portal began to
fluctuate wildly and the humming increased dramatically in volume.
 
Something was coming through.

I immediately leapt to my feet and pulled
out my left dagger, poised for action.
 
Across the sand, I could see both Lucy and the racist prick
tensing.
 
Being shifters, they
didn’t need to particularly carry weapons – their shift did more damage
more quickly than virtually anything else even remotely legal would.
 
Alex was backing away slowly from the
portal itself.
 
I gripped the
dagger’s hilt tightly.

“Come on Iabartu, you bitch,” I
whispered.
 
“Let’s finish this.”

There was a terrible rumbling and a figure
started to emerge slowly.
 
Initially
it was difficult to make out what it was.
 
Unfortunately, however, it was also immediately very clear that whatever
it was, it wasn’t Iabartu.
 
She’d
been about five feet tall in Alex’s scrying and this figure looked to be about
twice that.
 
It was definitely
humanoid, however.
 
I squinted,
trying to make it out.
 
One muscled
leg that looked the size of a tree trunk came into sharp focus.
 
Its foot was bare but very hairy with
long sharp looking toenails.
 
Ick.
 
I shifted my stance
deciding to aim for its Achilles’ heel.
 
I wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if I attacked it in mid
transport
 
- it would usually be
considered extraordinarily rude to do so – but circumstances dictated
that this was not someone here to pay a friendly visit.
 
I could end this in a second if I
managed to hit the right spot though.
 

I snapped back my wrist and let the dagger
fly, when, at the same moment, a furry shape barreled into the thing’s knee,
knocking the entire vulnerable spot that I’d been aiming for out of the
dagger’s trajectory.
 
My weapon
thudded uselessly into the sand.
 
Fucking
idiot shifter.
 
Who had half a brain
now?
 
Before I could react further,
the rest of the creature completely materialized, reaching down with one fell
swoop and picking the offending werecougar up, before shaking it violently and
flinging its body away.
 
The human
hater’s were shape lay broken and still.
 

Lucy had shifted as well, into her sleek
honey badger.
 
She at least had more
sense than her buddy, however, and held back, eyes watchful and assessing.
 
I called on my fire and let it seep throughout
my veins from my heart to the tips of my fingers.
 
It thudded and flickered in
intensity.
 
Bring it on.
 
The thing was completely focused on Lucy
and roared at her so loudly that I felt the vibrations on the sand under my
feet.
 
It remained stupidly unaware
of me at its back, however. She bared her sharp teeth and prepared to attack,
giving me a chance to perfect my aim, hopefully without any interruptions this
time.

I threw, and knew straight away that I was
close to the mark.
 
My shot wasn’t
quite swift and true enough however.
 
The dagger embedded itself in the beast’s ankle, just missing the vital
Achilles’ heel.
 
Shit.
 
It shuddered in pain though, head
whipping around.
 
Involuntarily I
took a step back.
 
It only had one
huge eye, smack bang in the middle of its face.
 
Christ, a Cyclops. I took in its long
dark hair, tied back with a piece of rope and its skin that was swarthy and
weathered.
 
A loincloth covered its
genitals but other than it was completely naked. I supposed I should be thankful
for small mercies.
 
A naked ten foot
tall
one eyed
beast was not at the top of my
‘otherworld neighbours I’d like to meet’ list.
  
Something dangled off the string
at its waist but, at this distance, I couldn’t quite make out what it was.
 
It didn’t look large enough to be a
scary weapon at least.
 
The Cyclops
roared at me and, even from metres away, I felt globules of warm spit on my
face combined with the hot rank air of its breath.
 
No, I was not a fan.

It turned back to the front, seemingly
dismissing me as unthreatening, so all I was presented with was its lean
back.
 
I prepared to attack again
whilst Lucy made her own move, rushing the Cyclops, and snapping and biting at
the same ankle I’d already injured, but it dodged her teeth and ran past
her.
 
And towards
Trevathorn.

Chapter Eighteen

I stood for one brief moment, then reacted
and took off after it.
 
Lucy joined
me, scampering along the sand and yet easily keeping up.
 
I pelted down the beach, feet scuffing
the sand as I sprinted in hot pursuit.
 
Alex yelled something behind me but it was indistinct and his words were
whipped away in the sea wind.

It was imperative that we stopped it
before it reached the village.
 
I
dreaded to think what damage it might incur if it got there.
 
Imagining busloads of eager tourists
being swept aside by the Cyclops’ long arms, I ran even faster.
 
This was probably not going to turn out
well if I didn’t stop its parade fucking fast.
 
Way Directive Twenty-two: Wherever
possible, the human world must be shielded from the otherworld.

The Cyclops was an ungainly, clumsy thing,
but its long legs enabled it to keep just ahead of the pair of us.
 
It gouged out huge prints in the soft
sand as it skewed its way along the edge of the dunes.
 
At one point it leapt over a
salt crusted
log, stumbling ever so slightly as it landed on
the other side.
 
This was our chance.
 
I jumped at it, feet first, and struck
it in the back before I fell back onto the sand.
 
It collapsed onto its knees and roared
again, and Lucy sprang onto its back and held on with her sharp teeth, ripping
into its flesh.
 

I jumped back up and pulled out my knife,
taking advantage of its position to move in front of it and block its path to
Trevathorn.
 
I swiped at it a few
times but couldn’t quite connect, so I lifted a booted heel and kicked its
lowered face with every ounce of power and strength that I had.
 
It groaned and pulled itself up,
scrabbling at Lucy on its back, connecting with her body and throwing her off
before taking off in the direction that it had just come from.
 
I ran after it again, starting to pant
with the exertion.

Other shifters were starting to run onto
the beach from the forest.
 
I noted
a bear – great, Anton again – a grey haired tiger which I took to
be Staines, and a couple of wolves.
 
The Cyclops spooked and turned again, this time heading right for
me.
 
I slashed out with my knife,
connecting with its skin and cutting it deeply, and jumped out of the way,
landing on my feet, but it only paused momentarily and then headed back in the
direction of the village.
 
Goddamn
Brethren.
 
I’d have finished this
thing off well before now if it
wasn’t
for them.

One of the wolves caught up and overtook
me.
 
As it passed by Lucy curled up
by the water’s edge, it leapt at the Cyclops and gained purchase on its
arm.
 
The monster tried to shake it
off as it loped even closer to the settlement, eventually managing to fling it
down onto its back.
 
The wolf rolled
over back onto its feet, not seriously harmed, but looking slightly dazed.
 
It shook its fur and ran after the
Cyclops again.

This time it was the tiger that launched
at it from a few feet away, fanged mouth chopping at the Cyclops’ skin.
 
The monster howled and wheeled yet
again, running zigzagged back towards the direction of the portal.
 
Staines’ tiger snapped at its
heels.
 
Blood was dripping from it
in all directions, spraying onto the surface of the sand.
 
Its great head turned to me, the one
great eye blinking.
 
I noted idly
that it had impossibly long lashes that any large cosmetics company would be
thrilled to use in a campaign.
 
I
kicked out at it again, and heard the satisfying crunch of a rib snapping from
within its great cage of a torso.
 
It moaned yet again but continued running.
 
I was starting to wonder just how many
times I’d have to chase it up and down the beach before this ended.

Anton started lumbering towards it, shiny
fur shaking with the exertion.
 
The
Cyclops leapfrogged over him, however, and carried on.
 
Its injuries were definitely starting to
slow it down considerably however, and I could see that I was gaining on
it.
 
The shifters behind me were
catching up too.
 
I reached a hand
out to snag its ankle and bring it down once and for all but hadn’t realised
how close we were to the portal.
 
Just as my hand started to curve around its leg, it escaped into the
purple shimmer and vanished.
 
I was
left grasping at air and only barely managed to stop myself from falling
headlong into the gateway after it by skidding into the sand and digging in my
heels.
 

Shit.

I took a few steps backwards and watched
the portal carefully in case the Cyclops re-emerged.
 
Staines, Anton and the two wolves joined
me, and we all stood there, waiting.
 
But there was nothing.

I cursed again and plonked myself down on
the sand, thoroughly pissed off now.
 
Alex reappeared from behind a dune.

“Oh my God, dude. Did you see that thing?”

“I could hardly miss it, Alex,” I
answered, barely disguised irritation evident in my voice.

He put his hands up in the air.
 
“Jeez, way to attack the innocent
party.
 
I tried to help but you
didn’t listen.”

I looked up at him and waited for him to
elaborate.
 
Staines, beside me,
still in tiger form, did the same, feline eyes narrowed.

“I told you.
 
It’s an ispolin. A Bulgarian giant.”

“It’s a fucking Cyclops,” I hissed.

“No,” he answered patiently.
 
“It’s an ispolin.

“Wandering around a beach in
Cornwall?
 
Why the hell can’t these
things stay where they belong?
 
Between earthquake monsters, Basque dragons and one eyed ispo…”

“Ispolin,” offered Alex helpfully.

“Whatever.”

“What Basque dragons?”
 
It was Anton.
 
He’d shifted back to a human and stood
there naked as the day he was born.
 
I looked down.
 
Yeah, still
unimpressed.
 
Then I remembered that
the Basque dragon part had come from me breaking into John’s computer.
 
Oops.