Page 75 of Fiendish Delights
Two green-suited paramedics jogged down the corridor towards us and I moved back to Hugo’s side. I’d only get in their way. Before they reached Enger, Hester and Otis zoomed past them, terror etched on their faces. Their wings were beating furiously and both of them looked ready for a fight. Suddenly I was very glad that they’d stayed away until now.
‘Daisy!’ Hester shrieked. ‘Daisy!’
‘I’m fine,’ I told them. ‘I wasn’t hurt.’ But I should have been.
I shook the thought away and focused on Hugo. I yanked off my shirt and used it to wipe the worst of the blood from his face and examine the wound on his forehead. He was right – it wasn’t as bad as it looked – but that didn’t reassure me. ‘This is exactly why you should have stayed at home,’ I muttered.
‘I’m heartened by your concern,’ he said softly, his eyes on mine. ‘It’s good to know you care.’
I glared at him. ‘Of course I bloody care.’
The left side of his mouth crooked up into a half-smile.
The paramedics were already hoisting Enger onto a stretcher. ‘He’s lost a lot of blood,’ one of them said grimly. ‘We need to get him to a hospital asap.’ She nodded at Hugo. ‘You should be seen to, as well. You might need stitches.’
Hugo shook his head. ‘I’m okay.’
There was bravery in the face of mortal danger and then there was cumbubbling stupidity. ‘I’ll make sure he goes to the hospital,’ I said. I glanced at Hugo, then I dipped my head and kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘You have to,’ I told him.
He blinked. ‘If it means I get another kiss, I’m all for it. But we don’t have a lot of time.’ He gazed at me. ‘You know what I’m talking about.’
I spared another glance at the smashed window. That blasted fiend.
The paramedics disappeared down the corridor with Enger but were immediately replaced by two grim-faced police officers. The fiend might be hot on the trail of the treasure but it appeared that our quest to retrieve it first would be delayed whether we liked it or not.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
While Hugo was being stitched up at the hospital, I answered the police officers’ questions as best as I could.
‘If creatures such as fiends exist, then why haven’t we heard of them before?’ one of them asked.
‘Presumably because they’re above your pay grade.’ I shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t feel bad about it. They were above my pay grade as well until recently.’
‘We have CCTV footage of the attack.’
Good. ‘Then you know I’m not lying about what happened.’
The officer pursed his lips. ‘Perhaps. But I’d like to know what you think of this.’ He turned his tablet screen towards me.
Hester and Otis perched on my shoulder and peered at it. If they were hoping for cat videos, they were disappointed; instead, the three of us watched silently as footage of my magicked water barrier appeared and my figure became nothing more than a blur.
The image of the fiend remained perfectly clear: his hands were raised and his face was a mask of fury. He looked for all the world as if he were about to strike me down but instead herolled his eyes in what could only be described as irritation and spun around to jump out of the window.
‘The – fiend,’ the officer was still struggling with the concept, ‘seemed to be about to attack you then changed his mind. Can you explain why?’
It certainly wasn’t because I was big and scary and the fiend thought I’d smack his golden arse into hell. ‘Maybe he’d run out of time on his parking meter.’ I bit my lip, instantly regretting my nonchalant comment. I was feeling nothing remotely like nonchalant.
‘I don’t know. He’s stronger than me in every possible way. The best I could do was slow him down but I could never have killed him – it’s doubtful I could even have hurt him. He could have struck me down in an instant and I thought that’s what was about to happen. I can’t explain why he chose to run away instead.’
I leaned forward, intent on making them understand the gravity of the situation. ‘You need to round up the witches you have on your staff and get them to guard Arnold Enger around the clock. The fiend wanted information from him. He didn’t get what he needed, so he could well come back. A few powerful witches might be able to banish him out of this realm, but nobody else can stop him. No matter who they are.’
‘Mr Enger is in surgery,’ the officer said. ‘He’ll be in no position to talk to anyone for days.’
‘He’s lucky.’
The policeman sucked air in through his teeth. ‘I might say the same about you, Miss Carter.’ He wasn’t wrong.
