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But before I could ask, loud shouting erupted at the clinic’s entrance and I heard someone cry, ‘Where’s the sidhe?’
Chapter Fourteen
‘Where’s the sidhe?’ the girl shouted again. She was dressed skimpily in washed-out grey lace and velvet, white hair worn loose down to her emaciated hips. Her outfit labelled her: she was one of the Moths from Sucker Town, so called because they lived—and died—in the unlicensed off-piste blood-houses. Between the scraps of lace and velvet she had so many swollen red bites marking her thin body that she looked like she’d been prepared as a speciality dish for a fang-gang; not to mention she had to be pumped up higher than a kite with the amount of venom and adrenalin fizzing through her blood—not a good thing when she was brandishing a foot-long carving knife like some sort of ghostly warrior princess.
What the hell was she doing here looking for me?
‘I gottaseethesidhe,’ the girl shouted again. ‘GottaseethesidheNOW. ’ Her words slurred as she banged the knife down on the reception counter.
Hari appeared, his large hands held placatingly out in front of him, his yellow face splitting with cautious concern. ‘Now, miss, you want to put that knife down before you hurt yourself.’ He moved slowly forward, his big bulky body almost blocking Moth-girl from view.
‘ Nooooo!’ She opened her purple-painted mouth wide and screamed, lunging straight for him. Hari dodged out of her way and her forward rush carried her past him into the hallway. She jerked to a stop in front of the lifts and stood, chest heaving, swaying like a sapling in an angry gale.
Beside me, Thaddeus stamped his feet, trainers flashing red and raised his aluminium bat.
Neil Ba
Moth-girl looked from our little group then back to Hari, her purple-eyelined eyes in her Pierrot-whitened face blinking like a confused clown’s as her brain tried to catch up with her headlong rush.
Junkies off their head weren’t that rare at HOPE. The usual plan was to safely distract the junkie, in this case Moth-girl, until security could turn up and defuse the situation, then help her as best we could. Hari knew the drill as well as I did, except I realised he wasn’t wearing his stab-vest—what if she spooked? Mountain trolls might be born from rock, they might be tough, they might live a few centuries longer than humans, but their flesh was still flesh, and they could still bleed, even if it was silicate and not actual blood.
Instinctively, I stepped forward, moving as slowly and cautiously as Hari had. ‘Hey,’ I called, just loud enough for her to hear me.
Her head whipped round, the movement nearly overbalancing her. She peered suspiciously at me, still blinking.
‘Why do you want to see the sidhe?’ I asked softly. ‘Maybe we could help?’
‘ Nottellinyou!’ She pointed the knife at me. ‘You ain’t the sidhe, I seen her picture. Sidhe’s got red hair an’ those fu
‘Miss, I’m sure the sidhe will show herself soon.’ Neil Ba
I got the message: lose the Glamour so Moth-girl could recognise me. It wasn’t a bad idea. Trouble was, never mind anything else—like being wanted by the police, or even why she wanted to see me—the Glamour wasn’t that easy to lose. Distracting Moth-girl until security arrived was a much more sensible plan.
‘Yes, I’m sure she’ll be here as soon as it’s possible,’ I said agreeably, ‘so long as nothing happens to ... keep ... distracting ... her,’ I added much more softly, glancing at Neil Ba
He half frowned, then his face cleared into understanding as he deciphered my return message. He smiled at Moth-girl and said in the same soothing voice, ‘We could have a chat while we wait, if you wouldn’t mind, miss.’ Then he gave a small wave at the orange visitor chairs and took a couple of cautious steps towards them. ‘I’d be glad of the company.’
Moth-girl frowned at Neil Ba
Hopefully, not the knife!
Neil Ba
‘You know she’s heading for a blood-flush, don’t you?’ said Bobby quietly next to my ear.
I only just managed not to jump; I’d been so focused on the girl I hadn’t been paying attention to anything else. ‘Yeah, I can see that,’ I said just as quietly. After my own early morning blood-flush nightmare I knew just how she was feeling: desperate, edgy, driven insane with the venom-fuelled blood burning her up from the inside out. If she didn’t lose the knife soon, we wouldn’t have to worry about her stabbing anyone; she’d be too busy slicing herself up.
‘I could catch her in a mind-lock and hold her still,’ Bobby whispered, ‘but the minute I try, the headband will shut me down again, unless you can mask the spells or something?’
Yeah, I could crackthem and blow his head off, or callthem and knock myself out in the process, or I could spend a couple of careful hours dismantling them. None of which was going to help. I thought for a moment. ‘If you can get to Hari without her noticing and explain,’ I whispered back, ‘he might deactivate the headband. I’ll help the Souler keep her occupied.’
Bobby slipped silently away and I turned back to where Neil was extolling the virtues of Thaddeus, who had hunched over. With his bat-like ears turned down, he somehow looked less intimidating than before.
Then behind me came the thud of ru
A flash caught my eye and I realised the lights above the lifts were blinking for the fourth floor. Someone was coming—and whoever it was, they were about to walk straight out into the middle of everything.
I started counting down.
The ru
Neil Ba
The lift reached the third floor.
Two fully-armoured security guards raced past me.
Moth-girl’s eye’s widened with terror, the carving knife shaking in her hand.
Second floor.
I starting moving; the beige vinyl tiles seemed to turn to sand, sucking at my feet.
The guards came to a determined stop in front of Moth-girl.
First floor.
She stumbled back, turning to flee.
But Hari loomed in front of her, trapping her.
The lift doors pinged open. Grace, her white doctor’s coat flapping open, stepped out, not looking up from the file she was reading.
‘Grace,’ I yelled, throwing myself at them, knowing I wasn’t going to be fast enough, knowing I was going to be too late ... ... Moth-girl lunged desperately towards the open lift and escape ...
... Grace’s head jerked up, her face paling in instant understanding ...
... Moth-girl plunged towards her, the knife, forgotten, held out in front of her ...
... and as Grace crashed to the floor, papers fluttered up and out of her file like a flock of pigeons taking panicked flight ...