Bloodmagic (Blood Destiny 2) by Helen Harper Page A

them as you say there are more of them.”
    “It’s more a case of they have me rather than the other way around.  Those books have a mind of their own, I swear it.”
    The kettle hissed and spat steam, chugging its way to the boil.  Mrs Alcoon washed out the cup that was in the sink and dried it with a small teatowel then reached into the cupboard for another.
    “Now before I get the tea ready, why don’t you tell me what you know about Faeries, Mackenzie.  How did you know it was a Faerie book?”  There was nothing in either her face or her voice to suggest anything other than honest curiosity.
    “I used to live with a group of people who knew about…such things,” I admitted.  “But then I had to leave them because things got – uh, well, they got bad.”
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly.  “You don’t have to tell me about it.  But I’m here to listen if you do.”
    I smiled at her weakly and she smiled back.  In that moment I realised that everything was going to be okay.  Mrs Alcoon poured the hot water into the teapot and gestured to the table and chairs next door.  I sat down and curled my feet around the legs of the chair, relaxing back into the wooden frame.  This was good.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    The next few days passed with surprising swiftness – and with very little action.  There were no more disturbing Voice communications from Corrigan, for which I was eternally grateful, and I had settled into a routine at Clava Books, even being fortunate enough to serve a number of customers looking for information on the local sights and sounds.  I spent most of my time rearranging the shelves and properly cataloguing the inventory.  Mrs Alcoon hadn’t quite made it into the twenty-first century just yet, and the shop was computer less, but I brought my battered laptop in with me every morning and planned to print out the inventory once I was finished, so that she could make use of it too.  Neither of us had mentioned the Fae book again, but it sat on one of the dusty shelves in the kitchen and demanded my attention every time I entered the little room to make myself a drink.  At least I’d finally managed to bring in a small cafetiere and some proper coffee so I could avoid the herbal concoctions that seemed to be getting stronger and stranger by the day.
    Walking home after putting in a couple of easy hours, I stopped to look in the window of a little haberdashery store.  There were balls of wool and knitting needles displayed at what seemed to be knockdown prices and I wondered whether I could teach myself to knit so I could sort out some proper winter wear.  A scarf couldn’t be that hard to do, surely?  I turned on my heel to go inside when I felt a hand clasp my shoulder.  Without thinking, I grabbed it and twisted hard, and was rewarded with a pained ooph.  I looked down to see who my would-be assailant was and was faintly pleased to note that it was my one-time nemesis, Derek.
    “What do you want, arsehole?”
    “Just thought I’d say hello, sweetheart,” he gasped.  “Now let me fuck go.”
    I twisted harder and he moaned.  “You’re a hard bitch.  Thought you’d have had the sense to get out of Inverness by now.”
    I leaned in towards his ear and spoke softly.  “Why?  Because I should be scared of you?  Does it look like I’m afraid, Derek?”  I gripped his wrist harder to emphasise my point.
    “Fuck you!”
    Suddenly his arm was wrenched from my grasp and he went flying backwards.  It happened so quickly that I barely had time to register it before a trilby hatted figure swept a bow in front of me.
    “Well, now that’s hardly the way to talk a lady now, is it?”
    “Piss off, Solus.”  I rotated away from both him and the now sprawled Derek and made to move away.
    He stepped in front of me with ease, blocking my path and I looked at him in irritated exasperation.
    “Leave me, alone.”
    “I will leave you alone when you tell me what you