Edwin shook him roughly. “Fucking snap out of it,” he barked. “You’re faster and stronger than me. Get after Cormack. Alec’ll be with you within minutes, if that. I’ll get Gethin and bring him along.”
“But he’s…” Sorley couldn’t bring himself to say the word. “He’s…” Tears he was physically unable to shed felt stacked up like boulders behind his eyelids. He didn’t think he could breathe. He’d forgotten he didn’t need to. He was dying from a broken heart and nothing—
“Sorley! Fuck’s sake, man, c’mon! He’s getting away. You’ve two centuries on me. I don’t stand a chance against Cormack but you do. I’ll grab your fella out of the river and find him a drink. He’ll be good as new in a few hours. Jesus, man,go!”
Before Sorley could fully process Edwin’s words, especially the part about Gethin being ‘as good as new’ —Oh yes, he’s a vampire! How could I have forgotten? —Alec skidded to a stop in front of him, his eyes dancing with impatience.
“What in heaven’s name was the screaming I heard?” He glanced quickly around them. “Does that espèce de merde have Gethin?”
Edwin shook his head, then gestured at the river. “Poor Gethin’s going to have a murderous headache when I fish him out of there. Take Sorley, and for the love of all that’s holy, wait for me before we finish that fucker Cormack off. I want to witness the panic in his eyes when he realises he’s reached the end of the line.” He thrust Sorley at Alec. “He’s not that far ahead, but you don’t want to chance him abducting a human to use as a bargaining chip.”
“Mon Dieu,” Alec muttered, his expression darkening as he stared at Edwin, then the river, in horror. “Pauvre Gethin, such an unpleasant way to come to terms with immortality. Viens, Sorley, I will ensure you keep pace with me. Cormack will not get away.” He laced the fingers of one hand through one of Sorley’s and tugged. “Youhaveto leave Gethin. Edwin is your brother. He has your back. Come, now!”
Sorley flew through the streets joined to his friend, across roads, dodging late night traffic that didn’t slow down or even swerve as they shot over the carriageways at unnatural speeds even for vampires, Alec adjusting their direction as he caught the scent of Cormack ahead of them. Sorley had hunted with Alec before but never like this, never searching in a wide expanse for one particular scent. It blew his mind how refined Alec’s tracking skills were.
“The Council needs you, you know,” he gasped as Alec veered sharply to the right, towing Sorley in his wake. “Your skills make Eddie look like an amateur.”
Alec chuffed, seemingly amused by this, then slowed and cocked his head, a sure sign he was searching for any vague sniff of their prey. He then slowed to a jog, and Sorley had a moment to once again feel the crushing pain of fear over what had happened to Gethin. He swallowed a lump in his throat the size of a tennis ball and asked Alec timidly,
“Eddie will make him better, won’t he?” He was reminded suddenly of his childhood spaniel and his anguish when the dog had broken a leg. He could no longer recall the dog’s name but he remembered the emotions attached to the worry about whether the leg was fixable. He felt much the same now, helpless in the face of something bigger than he had control over. Except, of course, this pain was a hundredfold, a thousand, a million. This wasGethin.
Alec squeezed his hand. “Of course he will, chéri. He is a formidable vampire, and he loves you, so he will take good care of your mate.” His eyes crinkled a little before he added, “And he is too awed by Dalziel not to always give one hundred per cent when one of his siblings is concerned. You forget perhaps, that Gethin is Dalziel’s too now, and Dalziel does not tolerate failure well.”
“You know a lot about my sire for someone who claims not to have any interest in him,” Sorley muttered, but Alec wasn’t wrong. “Why have we slowed down?”
“I am thinking.” Alec hushed him, then let go of Sorley’s hand to do a quick three-sixty of the place they stood in. “We need to split up. He is heading west and we do not want that. I shall overtake him and herd him back towards our original destination.”
Sorley opened a map on his phone. “How far d’you think he’s got?”
Alec’s brown gaze flitted over the options. “Hmm, maybe too far for the sports ground we had wanted, but there are options here…and here.” He stabbed at the screen. “You stay on the west side of the big roads here and we will cut him off in the middle. How is your phone charge?”
Sorley checked. “Good.” His throat tight once more, he regarded Alec. “We will get him, won’t we?”
“Absolutely we will.” Alec sounded assured, so Sorley had to trust him. He nodded.
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. And one of us will bring this bastard to his knees.” With one last quick press of his lips to Alec’s cheek, he darted away from his friend and towards the motorway.
50
GETHIN
Coming around under water,in the dark, was terrifying when he couldn’t work out where he was or how he’d got there. Instinct born of years as mortal had Gethin panicked about any water he’d unconsciously ingested, even as he was also dimly aware neither the water nor the lack of air appeared to be hurting his lungs. Which was impossible, but also, he didn’t have any inclination to breathe, or appear to be having any issue not breathing.Fuck,his head and neck hurt. Was he dead? Could you be dead and still hurt? That would be bloody unfair. Why couldn’t he remember?
He flailed a bit and found he could move. He kicked with his legs, pushing off from the solid ground beneath him. Oh, that was better, he appeared to be floating upwards a little; he could see the night sky and the illumination of street lights. Huh, the water here wasn’t very deep, although deep was relative when you were at the bottom of any river. Was it a river? He thought so. Shit, he appeared to be moving, drifting with the current. But he was conscious so that was good, right? Although seeing as he had to use both hands to hold his head still, it hurt like hell, he was soaked through, and couldn’t find the strength to pull himself upright, it wasn’t looking gr—
Hang on, why wasn’t he at least cold? Puzzled, and mindful of the godawful ache in his upper body, he tried to turn his head a fraction towards the nearest bank, determined he would climb out, then strip and shift. Fur would be best. He was evidently in shock if he couldn’t feel the cold. He should be cold. It wasn’t a pleasant night and the water was…cool, and with dubious items floating in it, but not freezing. Falling in fully clothed and from the feel of it, injured, would normally make any wolf shiver. No, it was no good. He didn’t have the capacity to fret about this right now.
He tried valiantly to steer towards the nearest bank, and was rewarded when one leg got entangled in some weeds, halting his progression downstream. Some extra wild kicking, which shot agonising spears throughout his whole body, boosted his head and shoulders out of the water, where he determined to balance against a buttressed wall until he could,c’mon, Gethin, think.
“Phzzzt.” A low whistle from the bankside caught his attention. He moved his eyes without lifting his head to see Marsh, the vampire from the Council, his blue eyes concerned. Gethin could read profound relief above a veritable cacophony of emotions blasting from the man.
You call him Edwin now,his brain supplied. He tried it out, his voice croaky.
“Edwin?”
“Yeah, mate. Hang on a moment. Just stripping off. No point both of us being soaked through. Gimme a second and I’ll get you out of there. Play your cards right and I’ll get you sorted out with some supper too.” His tone was light, even teasing, but it was more effort than Gethin could expend to work this out. He’d always got on okay with Marsh, but now the vamp seemed, well, friendly.
There was a muted splash, some unidentifiable period of silence, then Edwin’s voice in his ear, comforting and calm, as he surfaced from underneath Gethin and said, “Sorry, mate, but this is gonna hurt. Can’t be helped, but I promise it won’t take too long.” He immediately began towing Gethin backwards.Huh, where did the lights go? Oh, we’re under the bridge now, thenoh sweet screaming baby Jesus, that huurrrrrts.Apparently he wasn’t going to be blessed with a second bout of unconsciousness while Edwin manhandled him like an over-large and sodden sack of potatoes to finally deposit him on the…river bank? Yes, this was definitely a river. He shut his eyes and gave into a moan that felt torn from his very soul. He could hear the rustle of fabric and the scrape of a zip being done up. At least he didn’t have to contemplate seeing Marsh naked to add to this very fucked-up night.
