‘Does it have a name?’
‘Call him the Void, or Anti-Life. The golden-skins call him the Devourer of All Things.’
‘That does not sound good, Veitch.’
Veitch laughed bitterly. ‘Tell you what, mate, the world he’s built is a damn sight better than the one that was on the cards before. The one where I got fucked over by my friend, and then murdered for my troubles.’
‘What about Ruth? Have you killed her, too?’
There was a long pause before Veitch answered. ‘She’s gone.’ He locked the front door and pocketed the key before going to the bathroom.
Shavi ran to the window, but it was locked and he couldn’t see where Ruth kept the key. As he turned back to the room he noticed an overpowering odour, like burned iron. The air pressure dropped a degree, and then a doorway of shimmering Blue Fire appeared.
At first it was like a blue mirror reflecting his own blood-spattered features, but then it shifted and became a window on another place. In it, Shavi saw a man with a troubled but strong face; he too was stained with blood. Behind him was another man dressed in red robes.
‘Shavi?’ the bloodstained man said. ‘I’m Jack Churchill … Church.’
Shavi glanced past the doorway. Veitch had still not emerged from the bathroom. Church?’ he said quietly. ‘You must come quickly. You are the only one who can help—’
‘I’m coming.’ Church took a step forward.
‘Laura is dead,’ Shavi continued. ‘Ruth, too. They are going to bring him back, Church. They are—’
‘Ruth’s dead?’ The shadow of devastation crossed Church’s face, and a second later the burning doorway winked out.
Before Shavi could consider what he had seen, the bathroom door crashed open. ‘Oi. Come here,’ Veitch called.
Shavi found Laura submerged in the bath, the knife still embedded in her chest. Grief and horror twisted in his heart to see her that way.
‘Watch this,’ Veitch said. ‘Beats any party trick you’ve got.’
After a moment, Laura’s eyes flickered open. She looked at Veitch and Shavi through the water, and then became aware of her situation. She jackknifed upwards, gasping for air, before coming to a sudden halt when she saw the knife protruding from her chest. ‘Shit—’
Veitch yanked out the knife.
Laura recoiled and crashed back against the taps. ‘Oww!’
‘So you can still feel something,’ Veitch said. He grabbed her shirt and dragged her out of the bath and into the lounge where he flung her on the sofa.
‘Please, don’t hurt her,’ Shavi pleaded.
Laura jumped to her feet, eyes blazing. ‘Yes, you cunt. Come near me and I’ll tear your bollocks off.’ Her gaze was drawn back to her chest. She searched the wound for the blood that had not materialised.
‘You can’t hurt a bleedin’ plant,’ Veitch said.
‘What do you mean?’ Shavi was as stunned as Laura by her survival.
Veitch grabbed Laura’s hand and pointed to the tattoo of interlocking leaves. ‘See this?’
‘The mark of the god Cernunnos,’ Shavi said.
‘No one told you the price she had to pay to get it?’ Veitch laughed. ‘You’re not human any more, love. To get all those weird nature powers you had to cross over – from animal to vegetable.’ He laughed again. ‘Or something like that. Lop off an arm, you grow another. Stabbing, drowning – no good. Weedkiller … not so sure.’ He laughed at his joke until tears came.
Laura slumped onto the sofa in shock. ‘I think I remember … something—’
‘You did not have to reveal the information so cruelly,’ Shavi said. ‘You could simply have told us.’
Veitch wiped his eyes. ‘Yeah, well, me and her didn’t really get on.’
‘I wonder why,’ Laura said sourly.
‘She was always having a go, always making me feel like I was nothin’… ’ Veitch shrugged. ‘Thought I’d get it out of my system here and now.’
Veitch was clearly unbalanced, but Shavi couldn’t tell whether Veitch planned to kill them both or if he had something else in mind. He decided the best course of action was to keep Veitch calm. ‘There is a great deal I do not understand,’ Shavi said. ‘Why have our memories been altered, but yours have not? If we were once friends, why do this?’
Veitch wandered to the window and looked out across the city, his mood suddenly pensive. ‘All right. The first thing you’ve got to get your head around is that nothing out there is what it appears. The world we grew up with is just a cover for what’s going on behind the scenes. Which is basically a big bleedin’ street fight with knives and bottles and chains and no rules. Humans, we think we’re top of the pile here, but out there in the real place, no chance. We’re scrapping with every other species just to stay in the game. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons were designed to give us a chance. Five people, better together than they were on their own. And on our own we really were a bunch of losers.’ He turned back to Shavi and Laura and smiled sadly. As you probably remember.’