The Sweet Scent of Blood

Suddenly Red Poet jerked, his limbs shaking like a rag doll’s, and Katie screamed. I jumped, startled, as the vamp flew through the air and dropped, thudding onto the blue-rubber floor.

Katie screamed again and I crouched, pulling her into a hug. ‘Shush, shush, it’s okay, He can’t hurt you now.’ I patted her back, feeling her body still trembling under my hand.

Finn stood and stared down at the vampire with a satisfied expression. Bright red blood dripped off his ten- inch-long horns, trickling into his hair and down the side of his face.

Katie subsided into enthusiastic sobbing.

I glared up at him. ‘Took your time, didn’t you?’

He grinned back at me. ‘I was enjoying the show, Gen.’ Then he sank to the ground and collapsed in a heap.

Shit.

I dragged Katie over to him and slid to my knees clutching at his shoulders. He briefly opened one eye. ‘S’okay, just a bit tired. Go help Hugh.’

‘Is he all right?’ Katie hiccoughed.

I looked.

He was clear of the spell. Relief winged through me.

Up on the plasma screen, Hugh and Rio were facing off, circling each other again.

I smashed the end off the vodka bottle and held it out to Katie—as a weapon against a vamp it wouldn’t do her much good, but it would make her feel less helpless. ‘Think you can stay here and look after him, Katie?’

She took the bottle, and cast a wary eye at Red Poet. ‘He’s not going to get up, is he?’

I spotted the silver shackles. ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t.’

She huddled next to Finn, twisting her mouth into something that nearly made it to a smile.

I grabbed the shackles and fastened them around Red Poet. I sort-of thought he was dead, but without taking his head and heart, I couldn’t be sure, and no way did I have time for that.

‘Genny, why are there liquorice torpedoes all over the place?’ Katie asked, bemused.

‘In case you fancy a snack,’ I muttered, looking round. Something was missing—

‘Ha ha. I get it,’ Katie rolled her eyes and stuffed a couple in her mouth. ‘Ask a stupid question,’ she mumbled.

—Toni the witch bitch was gone. Fuck. I grabbed a handful of the torpedoes myself and headed off to the fight.

Chapter Forty-Seven

The Earl was waiting for me. His blond hair flopped over his forehead, as usual. His eyes were a solid blue, much like the floor. He’d removed his frock coat and boots and stood there naked, his white skin dull, corpse-like. And nude, that was really all he had that was worth commenting on.

Only I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that.

He smiled his charming smile. ‘Bravo, my dear. Your removal of the spell has done the trick and now Rio is weakening. ’

A map of blue veins snaked under his skin. It had been a long time since he’d fed—looked like he’d been saving himself for me. How nice was that?

I stopped a few feet away. ‘What about Hugh?’ I demanded.

He waved a hand above him, where the plasma screens were showing a close-up of Hugh. He was bent over, hands gripping his thighs, his black hair dusted with red, his chest heaving for air. Trails of white silicate blood ran from his neck and over his shoulders. Beneath his feet I could see the blue-rubber floor, so I knew he was still somewhere in the ring.

The tension in my stomach twisted tighter as the camera panned round and Rio came into the shot. She was on her knees, shoulders slumped, one arm hanging useless at her side.

‘As you can see,’ the Earl said softly, ‘the outcome seems to be a sure thing, all done bar the shouting. Your troll has the upper hand.’

‘Cut the crap and tell me what the deal is.’

‘I find your bluntness revitalising my dear. So, as you ask, let us get onto the deal. It is as I proposed to you in my note. You will take my Blood-Bond along with the spell of course, and in exchange I will offer you my protection.’

Yep, that was pretty much what I’d expected. He wanted me for himself; he wasn’t planning on selling me on. Not that his protection made any difference, seeing as it would last only as long as he did.

The Earl broke into my thoughts, almost as if he’d read my mind. ‘If you have any concerns about my ability to protect you, please put them aside.’ He spread his hands wide in an all-encompassing gesture. ‘With our combined powers, and the spell, I sincerely doubt any other would be able to stand against me.’

Of course, he would have to be the megalomaniac type, wouldn’t he?

He gave me an enquiring look. ‘I take it by your silence that you have destroyed the spell?’

‘You take it right,’

‘Ah. I did wonder if that would happen. But worry not, for the situation is still retrievable, as you will see.’

The air shifted, pressure popped at the back of my head and I blinked to clear away the slight disorientation. The Earl had done his time-pause thing again.

Toni stood behind him, her face blank in mind-lock. The cap of white-blonde hair almost hid the swelling purple bruise in the centre of her forehead. In her hands, she held a short knife and an ornate silver cup, faint steam swirling above it. No doubt it contained the spell.

Time to do some bet-hedging of my own.

‘Hugh,’ I shouted.

‘He can’t hear you, my dear.’

‘He can hear you though, can’t he?’ I kept my gaze fixed on the screen. ‘Tell him to look up and wink his left eye.’

The Earl tilted his head as if listening.

Hugh’s massive hands clenched and his face filled the screen, deep fissures creasing in his red skin. He bared his polished granite teeth in a growl.

‘He refuses,’ the Earl said, his tone indifferent.

I bared my own teeth in a smile. I hadn’t expected Hugh to agree. But now I knew he was alive and we weren’t just watching a recording.

Now for the rest.

I walked over to Toni and took the knife from her unresisting hand and slashed it across the raised red scar running down my left arm. Blood welled as I dropped the blade. I took the cup in my right hand. It felt cool to my fingers, so not silver then. I turned towards the Earl. ‘Here’s the deal. I want Rio dead, and you give me your word that you will allow all my friends—and their friends—to leave and go home in safety. Do that, and I’ll agree your terms.’

Surprise flickered across his face. ‘I had thought you would object much more strenuously.’

I hoisted the cup and offered my bloody arm. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’

He inclined his head at Toni. ‘Is the witch included in your negotiations?’

‘No.’ She doesn’t need to be, I added silently.

He rubbed his hands. ‘In that case, it is agreed.’

A chime split the air.

Above me on the silent plasma screen, Rio staggered to her feet and stood there swaying. Hugh lowered his head and charged towards her, his feet thundering across the arena. She held out her arms, as though to catch him. He crashed into her, head-butting her in the chest, knocking her backwards, and she lay broken on the blue floor as Hugh moved to stand over her.

Looking up at him, she drew her lips back in a snarl. Rio wasn’t gone, not yet. Hugh turned away and I