Page 79 of Box of Frogs
The voices continued. ‘We’re not prepared to fail again. One way or another, that creature is coming with us.’ Apparently the hunters had run out of patience. No doubt that accounted for their bid to send everyone they had to pick up Julie, even though it was now broad daylight. ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’
I rolled my eyes. Us villains had to do better with our patter than tired old clichés. Honestly. These guys could learn from me; it was a shame they would never get the chance.
Freed from the car, I sprang upwards. The hunters obviously hadn’t realised I was there because all three of them turned to me in astonishment. Fortunately, Morgan, Jinn and Finn wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation.
Jinn drew his gun, grabbing hold of the nearest man and putting him in a chokehold with the gun pressed against his neck. Morgan threw a punch towards the second one, while Finn faced off against the third.
‘I thought you took care of the vampire hunters!’ I yelled at him, running to his side to help.
‘I thought we did too,’ he hissed.
The vampire hunter in front of us laughed. ‘You can’t scare us off. We do the work of the righteous. We stop evil. If you are protecting that vampire bitch, that makes you as evil as her.’
Julie’s face contorted. She darted forward, smacking the man on the side of his head. He snapped his arms and two black canisters emerged from his sleeves. He sprayed one in my direction and one in Finn’s, and clouds of pepper spray hit us both at the same time.
I shielded the worst of the damage by raising my arm in the nick of time but it wasn’t good enough. I yelled as burning pain flashed through my eyes and face. Finn made a similar, inarticulate screech. Unable to see clearly, I fumbled forward, trying to grab hold of the hunter before he grabbed hold of Julie.
‘I’ve got her!’ I heard him yell over the sounds of fighting.
I kicked out in the direction of his voice and Julie screamed in agony in response. ‘Mads! You’re supposed to be on my side!’
Gasbudlikins.
Something struck me from behind and I fell forward onto my hands and knees, eyes still streaming with agonising tears. There was a faint buzz in the air and then a gentle hand reached for me. I blinked and blinked. Morgan.
‘You’ve messed with time,’ I gasped. ‘I thought that was forbidden.’
‘It is,’ he growled. He used his sleeve to wipe my face. The pain was still extraordinary and my vision was still blurred but it was better. I glanced around. One of the hunters, no doubt the one who’d struck me, lay on the ground behind me. Finn was doubled over while Jinn and the other hunter had their hands wrapped round each other’s throats, struggling together in slow motion.
‘I can’t hold it for long,’ Morgan grunted.
Seeing the strain on his face, I nodded quickly. I darted for Julie and wrested her away from the hunter, then I did for Finn what Morgan had done for me and wiped away the worst of the pepper spray residue. I hoped I was doing more good than harm.
There was a rushing sound and time returned to normal.
‘Wh – what?’ Julie blinked, obviously confused at her changed position. I didn’t waste time explaining it to her and thrust her towards Finn. ‘Take her!’ I yelled. ‘Take her to the hotel! Mike Timmons will help you!’ I hoped he would, anyway.
Still barely able to see, Finn nodded. He and Julie half ran, half stumbled in the direction of the Travotel. It was still some distance away. We still weren’t safe.
The hunter who’d grabbed Julie shook off his confusion, recovering from the time lapse with scary swiftness. He glanced from Morgan to me and back again, obviously judging that Morgan was the more dangerous opponent. ‘You lot are vampires too, aren’t you?’ he snarled.
‘Guess again,’ Morgan said.
The hunter laughed. ‘It doesn’t matter what you are. You’re unnatural and you don’t belong here. We won’t kill you here. But we will stop you then we’ll take you in and treat you just as we’d treat her.’ He spat this last word, making it clear what his opinion of Julie was.
‘What’s your beef?’ I asked, keeping Jinn and his own fight with the other hunter in my peripheral vision. He was holding his own – for now. ‘She’s not doing anyone any harm. She’s not hurting anyone. She’s a damned soap star! Why don’t you just leave her alone?’
‘Her kind shouldn’t be allowed to exist,’ the hunter grunted, with the sort of racist fear-borne mentality that fuelled wars in every corner of the globe. ‘And apparently neither should yours, whatever it may be. Don’t worry though,’ he said with a spiteful smile, ‘we learn from our mistakes.’ As that hissed promise left his lips, he drew out a gun and sprang towards Morgan.
I should have known better. His action was no more than a feint; the hunters were better equipped, better prepared and better manned than any of us had realised. Just as Morgan kicked, forcing the hunter to drop his weapon, I caught a flash of light from one of the nearby rooftops. There was a crack and Morgan fell to the ground. A split second later, so did Jinn.
Yet again, I reached for my faery magic but it wasn’t time I messed with. From somewhere – I didn’t know where – vicious anger uncoiled within me. There was an odd vibration from the sphere that I was still clutching in my right hand. With grim intent, I thrust out my left hand and sent a spark of fire in the direction of the hidden sniper. I knew I’d caught him – I heard his scream – but it was still too late. I was thrown backwards by the force of a bullet smacking into my side. The sphere fell from my grip and rolled away towards Morgan’s fallen body.
The two remaining hunters turned, taking off in the direction of the hotel – and Jinn and Julie. I could already feel my body using its inherent Fey magic to knit itself back together again and seal the wound caused by the sniper’s bullet. I wasn’t convinced it would heal quickly enough for me to do anything to stop the arsebadgers from reaching my friends. In the end, neither Jinn nor Morgan nor I had been any real match for the hunters, and now we had Julie and Finn’s wellbeing to worry about as well.
I stretched out my hand, my fingertips just able to brush against the cold steel of the fallen gun. It was no good; I couldn’t grab it properly. I lifted my head, groaning with the effort. Morgan and Jinn were out for the count and I prayed they were still alive. There was no way the hunters knew about the poisonous effects of rowan and had coated their bullets, so Morgan would probably survive. With any luck, the bullet that had hit Jinn hadn’t done any real damage. But neither of them was moving – so I had to. I had to get up. No one else could do this; it had to be me.
I forced myself upwards, rolling to my side and managing to raise myself onto my knees. The sun was in my eyes, though, and tears still streamed down my face from the effects of the pepper spray. I could just make out the silhouettes of the two hunters who were near the corner; they were almost out of sight. Then, to my left, a hand appeared. It reached for me and, without thinking, I grasped it, allowing myself to be hauled to my feet.
