Wind rushed down the other end of the alley, blasting any scent away from him.
Then, as the creature dived, Callum beheaded it in a single scything arc.
A moment later, its head hit the pavement with a wet smack.
It had been so swift the adrenaline still rushed in Dylan’s ears, near muting the sound of the ballet flats slapping on stone as someone ran their way.
He stared. ‘What the hell just—’
Bells staggered into the alley, their father jogging to a stop a moment later.
‘Dylan!’ she cried.
‘What happened?’ their father snarled, his eyes whipping over the body, the gore, then pinning on Dylan, a flash of fear in his stormy eyes. He charged past Callum.
‘Varian,’ Callum said, nudging the head with his otherwise pristine shoe. ‘Nasty little fuckers. Unusual.’
Dylan barely felt his father’s grip as he propped him up while the last of the tremors echoed out in hot ripples. He focused on the spike and grit of the asphalt beneath his hands, the slip of a discarded train ticket stuck to his thumb.
‘Did you scent it?’ his father demanded, ripping out another tonic and getting it into Dylan’s shaking hand.
‘Nearly.’ Dylan forced his arm to move, his throat to swallow the mixture. His body relaxed instantly as the balm of the tonic spread through him.
‘All in hand,’ Callum said, the blade archaic and magnificent against the urban background.
The image was cut into by Bells edging deeper into the alley. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked him, eyes wide and worried.
Dylan managed a nod and watched her take a shaky breath. ‘Good, because I have news. I sat with the memory a few more moments.’ She wasn’t quite breathless, they’d been trained too well for that, but the light in her eyes gave away her excitement. ‘I know what it means.’
Dylan shook his head. ‘I don’t. What are you talking about?’
‘Someone else was there the night Mum was killed.’
In every theory as to what information they could glean from Dylan’s memories,thatwas not one of them.
‘Who was it?’ Callum demanded.
‘I don’t know. All I saw was a flash of long white hair. Don’t you know what this means?’ Bells asked, eyes wild. ‘If someone else was there that night, someone who tried to help her and survived, they’ll know everything.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Nicole
KYAN WAS TAILING HER.
Nicole could feel his steady presence as she headed to her favourite place: a world of calm and quiet, where the paintings of their hidden world were displayed in all their mythic glory.
The city grew around her. Previously a World Heritage site, Liverpool was a mix of old and new, industrial and historic. Two sculptures of its mythical Liver Bird watched over the river and city from a double-fronted clocktower that near reached the heavens.
To get to the gallery she had to cut through streets of noise and supernaturals. Kyan had said it was better to go a longer way to avoid the Wake’s headquarters at St George’s Hall, but it meant there was somuchto try not to let knife into her mind.
The seagulls above, gliding towards the waterfront. The rush of the chunky black taxis. The sun bright off the white limestone buildings. And the chatter. Even the last of the blossoms dancing across the pavements beneath her low patent heels. She’d worn them to feel more put together, the strap on them allowing her to run if needed. But darting across the streets to avoid brushing against creatures that had varnished themselves to blend with the city folk, had her body at a near prowl.
Nicole forced her mind away from sensation and onto details, spotting several Irish pubs with their Celtic fonts proclaiming live music and live sports. A cheer went up from inside one as she passed and she fought the urge to look back at Kyan, the invisibledraw to him like the sun on her back or the hot press of it on her cheek.
She couldn’t stop to talk to him. Not with the slightest chance the Wake knew where they were. Not without giving them away.
She nearly stopped on the busy pavement when her gaze snagged on a nondescript but ancient stone doorway, its matching lintel carved with a triskelion. The entrance was shadowed between an Irish pub and a neighbouring building, making it look like a portal to another world.
