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  I stroked his cheek. ‘If it doesn’t, we’ll just have to make you new memories,’ I told him. ‘Good memories.’

  His lips twitched into a small smile. ‘If they’re of times spent with you, you’ll have no complaint from me.’

  ‘I should hope not,’ I replied as he helped me up onto Pyrites and clambered on behind me. After a moment he wrapped his arms around my waist.

  ‘This is nice also,’ he whispered in my ear.

  As soon as we were settled, Pyrites began to grow, but he stopped before he reached his full size – he knew he needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. Jamie had made it quite clear that a drakon flying around in the human land was not a good idea, but right now we didn’t have any choice. We were only a few miles from Gatwick Airport, probably smack-bang in the middle of the flight path, so I really hoped it was early enough that there wouldn’t be too much air traffic yet. I could just imagine the news coverage if we were spotted by someone on a plane.

  Pyrites flapped over the hedge and into the adjoining field, giving himself a bit of room to manoeuvre, and then we were off – and not a moment too soon, because I spotted the lights of three vehicles hurtling along the narrow lane below us.

  ‘Good boy,’ I said, patting Pyrites’ neck, and was rewarded with a purr.

  Jinx rested his chin on my shoulder so he would be heard above the wind whistling past us. ‘Would it not be a good idea for us to follow the vehicles? They may well lead us to Persephone and Amaliel.’

  He was right: if we knew where they were hiding out, we could rescue Kayla and thwart Amaliel’s ambitions. As for Persephone, if she was daemonkind, she had no business in this world either, so we would somehow have to send her back, or destroy her. Or maybe we could leave that to the Guardians – after all, wasn’t that their job?

  I leaned forward to call to Pyrites, ‘Take us down.’ My drakon puffed smoke, but did as he was told. As soon as we landed, he shrank so we could jump down, and then we huddled together while I explained what I thought we should do.

  ‘There’s nowhere we can go where we’ll be safe,’ I told them, ‘so at least if we know where Amaliel and Persephone are holed up, we can take the battle to them.’

  Pyrites puffed more smoke.

  ‘What’s the matter, lad?’

  He gave Jinx a sideways look.

  ‘Who sent you to find us? Was it Shenanigans?’

  Pyrites bobbed his head.

  ‘Does Jamie know?’

  Pyrites gave a snort and rolled his eyes.

  ‘He doesn’t?’

  Pyrites shook his head, but he didn’t look very happy about it.

  ‘You do know why he mustn’t know?’

  Pyrites gave Jinx another look, nodded and to my surprise pushed his head under Jinx’s hand.

  ‘He’s on your side,’ I told Jinx.

  Jinx gave me a wry smile. ‘No, he’s on your side. If that means helping me, he’ll do it.’

  Pyrites bobbed his head in acknowledgement.

  There wasn’t much more to be said. We climbed back on Pyrites and he took to the skies. The cars had stopped in the middle of the lane, so we kept our distance – it was getting lighter quickly now, and we didn’t want anyone looking up and seeing us outlined against the sky, or hearing the beat of powerful wings.

  They didn’t hang around for long, so Pyrites only needed to circle overhead a couple of times. They drove slowly until they found somewhere to turn around, then they set off at a foolhardy speed – but why should they worry? Unless the vehicle burst into flames, a car crash in this world was unlikely to hurt them; it was the unlucky humans who would be the losers in any collision. For a moment I considered how easy it would be for Pyrites to fly down and roast them – but he couldn’t. They had Kayla.

  Pyrites flew along behind them; not so low that he could be seen from the cars but not so high we were likely to be noticed by air traffic control – I hoped.

  Once out of the lane they headed across country. I was thankful they kept away from the motorway, where flying low might be one distraction too many for any eagle-eyed drivers – a pile-up on the M23 was the last thing I wanted. They were heading towards the coast, in the general direction of Brighton, although I doubted that their hideout would be in the busy seaside town. As if to prove me right, the convoy below us soon turned inland.

  Jinx leaned forward, his lips brushing my ear. ‘You think you’re such a clever little girl, don’t you?’ he whispered – but it wasn’t him.

  His arms, that had felt so comforting wrapped around me, tightened until it was painful to breathe. With one hand I tried to prise his arms away from my body. The other was busy holding on to Pyrites.

  ‘Jinx,’ I gasped, ‘try and fight her.’

  ‘Why should he fight me?’ she asked and Jinx nipped my earlobe between his teeth. ‘Especially when he knows what fun we’re going to have with you.’ Then he nipped me again, harder.

  I tried to pull away, but he hugged me even tighter.

  ‘Now, little bitch, you’re to sit very still – don’t even think about alerting your pet – if you do, not only will the Deathbringer bite off your ear, but I will see to it that several armed missiles are fired directly into his belly. I suspect not even a Jewelled Drakon could survive that.’

  I relaxed back against Jinx. It was all I could do.

  ‘Now, follow the vehicles and when they stop, get your pet beastie to land in the garden behind the house.’ Jinx nipped my ear again. ‘Understand?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said.

  ‘Do you?’ He bit my earlobe so hard he must have drawn blood.

  ‘Yes!’ I said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Good. And Soulseer.’ She paused. ‘Don’t try any tricks. If you do, I will hurt everyone you care for so very badly that you’ll never sleep again without hearing their screams.’

  Jinx suddenly slumped against me, and I had to hang onto his arm to stop him falling. When he regained consciousness, the lights were on, but nobody was home.

  Persephone thought she was clever, but if she’d any sense at all, she would have waited until we’d almost reached our destination before pulling that little stunt. As it turned out, I had some time to push aside my panic and plan.

  I knew for certain that Jinx and I would be taken prisoner, but I wasn’t about to let her capture Pyrites – and if he could get away, he could alert Shenanigans and lead him to where we were. Of course, that meant Jamie and his Guardians were likely to get this information too, but it had to be done: loyal as he was, Shenanigans wouldn’t risk me for Jinx, and neither would Pyrites.

  I had been so sure Jinx was beginning to break free of Persephone. Now my naïve optimism was probably going to get us killed, or at the least, seriously hurt. She obviously had something nasty planned for me.

  At last the vehicles pulled into a long winding drive leading up to yet another massive house with two wings that gave it an H shape, and a terrace overlooking a huge lake at the back. Being a Satanist was obviously very lucrative.

  I left it to the last minute before leaning forward to give Pyrites his instructions, hoping Jinx couldn’t overhear me.

  ‘Pyrites, I know you won’t like this, but you must do exactly as I say. Do you understand?’ He puffed out dark grey smoke and his ears flicked back. ‘As soon as we land, shrink to the size of a bird and get out of there. I need you to find the others and bring them as soon as you can. Preferably not Jamie and his Guardians, but if you can’t lose him, so be it. Understand?’

  He gave another puff, but it was black smoke – but that was all the time I had, as Jinx grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

  ‘You wouldn’t be up to something would you?’ she asked, and I finally accepted I really might have lost Jinx for ever. If that was the case, there was no way I’d be able to protect him from Jamie and his angel army.

  A little part of me withered and died.

  Sixteen

  Pyrites wasn’t stupid; he landed on the
far side of the lake and was away so quickly she and her people had no chance whatsoever of catching him. Feral Jinx was back; he grabbed my arm and started marching me around the edge of the lake towards the house as a Land Rover came bouncing across the grass towards us; she wasn’t in it, but the hired help were. A human was driving, with a Sicarii in the passenger seat and two disciples in the back.

  The two from the back piled out and Jinx got in of his own free will – although I suppose that was a bad choice of words: he had no free will any more, and when she wasn’t inside his head, he was little more than a beast – how the hell had that happened again? I supposed a mind could only take so much tampering.

  My heart was breaking. Even if Jamie and the others arrived in time to save me, Jinx was doomed, and if so, any future relationship with Jamie was too. I knew he had to do his duty – but I didn’t have to like it, and I doubted I could live with it.

  No one said anything, no sneered threats; nothing. The two disciples crammed in on either side of us were stone-faced, and once inside the car kept their eyes fixed on a point straight ahead. Even the grey-robed Sicarii sat there in silence.

  The very human driver glanced at us in the rear-view mirror a couple of times and it was clear he didn’t want to be there either. My curiosity was piqued: surely the Sicarii should be jubilant? They had the Deathbringer – a creature who could provide them with thousands of souls at the click of his fingers – back under their control. Yet the brooding silence told another story.

  ‘So,’ I said, deciding to test the water, perhaps even cause a little bit of mischief, ‘how is it now Amaliel and Persephone are calling the shots?’

  I felt the minion beside me stiffen. The wide eyes of the human reflected in the mirror were scared. He was not some fanatical Satanist, or if he had been, the allure had worn off. None of them replied.

  ‘What are their plans? World domination? I don’t suppose Persephone’s interested in collecting souls – slaves maybe, but souls?’ I wrinkled my nose. ‘Nah, I doubt it.’

  ‘Be silent, woman,’ the Sicarii in the front said.

  ‘I must admit I’m rather surprised Amaliel has taken on a partner – I mean, him being such a control freak himself.’

  ‘I said, be silent.’

  The disciple next to me shifted in his seat, but when I looked at him, he kept his reptilian snout and crocodile eyes straight ahead.

  Jinx’s hand dropped onto my knee and squeezed, but his expression was still angry. What the hell did that mean?

  The car skidded to a halt at the back of the house, the two minions clambered out and Lizard Man grabbed me by the arm. As he half-dragged me from the car, Jinx slid out behind me, took hold of my other arm and snarled at the daemon, ‘She’s mine.’

  Lizard Man flinched away from me as though I’d burned him.

  The Sicarii led us silently up the stone steps to the patio behind the house and in through the open French windows. It was noticeable that the two minions following us were keeping their distance: what the hell was going on? I heard the Land Rover drive off. I suspected that given the choice, the driver would be heading for the main gate, and out. Morale was clearly not high within Team Persephone.

  The minions closed the doors behind us while the Sicarii stopped in the centre of the high-ceilinged room and turned to face us. While we waited for our hosts, I examined the room. The walls were hung with paintings of someone’s long-dead obviously human ancestors, so I doubted they were anything to do with our hostess. The men were all rosy-cheeked, with heavy jowls and white powdered wigs; the porcelain-skinned women were all encased in tight-fitting bodices – probably the cause of their pale complexions, as I imagined they’d found it hard to breathe corseted within stiff whalebone.

  Delicate, highly ornate furniture was placed tastefully around the room. It was a set piece: for show only; I thought the owner would no doubt have the vapours should someone actually sit on the chairs, or play the harpsichord.

  The gold-and cream-lacquered door opened, and Persephone was preceded into the room by Joseph and another – the unfortunate Gabriel’s replacement? Joseph gave me a perfect, white-toothed smile; that he was so comfortable in such dangerous company really made me wonder at his sanity.

  Persephone was dressed in a knee-length, closely fitting purple lace dress, accessorised with a black patent leather belt and matching stilettos. She entered the room with an over-the-top catwalk strut. If she was daemon, she was keeping her real self under wraps.

  ‘Jinx, darling,’ she said, holding out a slender, bejewelled hand to him. ‘I am so glad you’ve returned to us.’

  He gave her a dirty look.

  ‘Now, now, don’t be like that.’ She strode across the carpet, reached out and flicked aside his coat with her forefinger. ‘All healed up, I’m glad to see.’

  She looked at me, and her smile became slightly fixed. ‘Though you haven’t killed her yet.’

  I gave her my best hundred-megawatt smile and rested my hand on Jinx’s arm. ‘Why would he, when we’ve been having so much fun?’

  Her nostrils flared and I was pleased to see she had to fight to keep the smile on her face. ‘Believe me when I tell you the fun for you has only just begun. If I leave him to his own devices you will be nothing more than a pile of bloody, steaming meat.’

  I looked down at myself and then back at her. ‘Yet here I am, safe and sound.’

  ‘But not for much longer.’

  ‘We’ll see.’

  She turned her attention back to Jinx and laid her palm on his naked chest. His fingers tightened on my arm. ‘Let’s take you upstairs for a wash and brush-up.’ His grip became painful.

  She gestured at me with her head. ‘Take her downstairs,’ she told the two minions. ‘I’ll be down to deal with her later.’

  ‘No,’ Jinx said.

  Persephone arched an eyebrow. ‘No?’

  ‘She’s mine.’

  Persephone began to laugh. ‘Jinx, darling, you appear to be under the misguided impression you have a say in anything.’ She moved in closer and whispered in his ear, loud enough for me to hear, ‘But you don’t – my will is your will.’ She took a step back and reached out to press the tip of her right forefinger against the centre of his brow.

  His hand jerked from my arm as his features contorted with pain, lips pressing tightly together like he was trying to hold in a scream.

  ‘On your knees,’ she said, her eyes glittering and her teeth parting slightly, showing a pointed pink tongue.

  Jinx groaned.

  ‘I said, on your knees.’

  With a grimace, he dropped down onto one knee and then the other. His head fell forward and she took a step closer to him, lifted her pointed shoe and pressed the sole against his crotch.

  ‘You, my darling, are going to come upstairs with me and I’m going to show you what it’s like to really fuck.’

  Jinx trembled, again reminding me of a frightened colt, panicked and scared, but unable to bolt to safety. She moved her foot, placing the thin stiletto in his groin, and pressed it hard enough against the leather that it made an indentation; it must have been painful.

  ‘You’ve made your point,’ I said.

  She smiled. ‘No, I don’t think I have.’ And she pressed the heel in even harder, making me wince.

  ‘What is it with you?’ I looked her up and down. ‘I would ask if you’d had a troubled childhood, but that wouldn’t be any excuse: I had a crap life as a kid and I’m not even close to you on the psycho-bitch Richter scale.’

  She laughed, though it was forced. ‘Mock as much as you like. You’ll soon be wishing you had treated me with respect – not that it would have made the slightest difference. I’m going to gradually strip away the veneer until you are little more than a wild beast willing to do anything to make the pain stop. I did it to the Deathbringer; it will be the simplest of things to do it to you: you’ll know nothing but pain – mind-numbing, blistering agony.’

  My
heart was racing, and I fought to stop myself shaking: she’d done this to Jinx so I knew I stood no chance, but I was damned if I’d give her the satisfaction of seeing that I was almost shitting myself. ‘Are you so sure that he’s yours?’ I asked calmly. ‘Are you so sure that when the chips are down, he won’t choose to save me?’

  ‘He will do as he’s told.’

  I took a deep breath, and hoping my legs would support me, I moved forward to stand beside my Deathbringer. I put my hand on his head. ‘Do you really think so?’ I asked.

  ‘At my say-so he will take you apart—’

  ‘We’ll see,’ I said, and I caressed his hair for what I thought would probably be the last time. I could posture as much as I wanted, but if he was truly hers, I was so fucked I might as well slit my own wrists and save myself the pain to come. At least it was a plan.

  She gave me a narrow-eyed look, then lifted her chin and her lips raise slightly in her condescending smile. ‘He is mine, and when I send him down to you, he will prove it.’

  His head moved ever so slightly, pushing against my hand, just like Pyrites did when he wanted comfort, and I pressed down and let my fingers massage his crown.

  ‘Well,’ I said, ‘there is one difference between the two of us – I love Jinx with all my heart, whereas you only care about how powerful he can make you.’

  She actually threw back her head and laughed out loud at that. ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid little girl. It’s your love for him that will be his ultimate downfall: when he holds your cold, dead body in his hands and realises he has destroyed you, he will lose whatever will he might have had left. At that moment he will be mine for ever.’

  ‘Or he might just destroy the creature who took me away from him,’ I pointed out helpfully.

  Her smile faltered again, so briefly I doubted she even knew it. ‘Take her down,’ she ordered, and the minions grabbed me and dragged me away before I had one last chance to whisper to Jinx how much I loved him. I hoped he knew that, but he was so messed up by her mind control that I wasn’t sure he knew much of anything. The last thing I saw as they pulled me, struggling, away, was her laying her hand on his head where mine had so briefly rested. His shoulders were slumped and his head was bowed. I looked back at him for as long as I was able, hoping he would look up, give me some sort of sign that I hadn’t lost him for ever.