Bloodmagic (Blood Destiny 2) by Helen Harper Page B

are.”
    Pushing my hair out of my eyes, I aimed a sharp kick at his shin, which he unfortunately dodged.  “I told you.  I don’t know what I am.  Besides, I am no threat to either you or yours so what’s the big deal?”
    “You’re a conundrum, Mackenzie.  Or is it Jane?  Perhaps I should just call you Red?” 
    Solus reached out and brushed the hair away from my face.  I jerked backwards, although not quite quickly enough. 
    Shooting Derek a quick glance, I snapped at the Fae.  “Watch it, Seelie shithead.”
    He smiled, baring his teeth.  It wasn’t entirely pleasant and I could barely suppress a shudder.  “Oh, I think your little friend has got more than enough to worry about right now without listening in our little chat.”  His smile grew wider.  “I could take care of him for you, you know.  It wouldn’t be hard.  I could make him forget he ever knew you with a quick breath.  Or perhaps punish him to make him understand the error of his ways?  Give him a donkey’s head to befuddle medical science?”
    “Plagiarising Shakespeare now, are you?”
    Solus snorted.  “More like he plagiarised us.  Midsummer night’s dream – what a ridiculous notion.  Although,” he took a step towards me, “you do realise that it’s almost the midwinter solstice?  Strange things happen up at Clava Cairns on that particular day.  But you probably know all about that having visited there already.”
    I scowled.  “Following me?  I’d have thought you’d have better things to do.”
    “Oh, I’m highly entertained just by being in your vicinity.”  He looked me up and down assessingly.  “I think what I’ll do is give you a nickname all of my own.  That way I can be sure I won’t be accused of plagiarising anybody else.  How does ‘Mule’ sound?”
    I glared at him and tried to sidestep around.  He moved with me and I clenched my fists, trying to keep my temper in check.
    “No,” he continued musingly, “you might be as stubborn as a mule but I don’t think being compared to a packhorse quite works.  Perhaps I should keep it simple and go with ‘Fire’?”
    My head snapped up at that one but fortunately Solus didn’t seem to notice and carried on.  “But, no, that might prove difficult around the police.  If people randomly call out ‘Fire’ when you’re around, they may just get out their guns and shoot you and then where would I be?”
    “The police in Scotland don’t carry guns you feckless Fae.  And my name is Mack.”
    “You must miss having people around you who call you that,” he stated smoothly.  “Why don’t I make you feel a bit better about that?”
    Before I could stop him, Solus encircled one arm around my waist.  I yanked away from him but his grip was tight – it didn’t really matter anyway because almost as soon as he had hold of me, the air started to shimmer.  It took a second or two for it to sink in and then I really started to struggle in alarm. 
    “Solus, what the fuck are you doing?”  I spat.
    But I knew.  The fucking idiot had decided to transport me somewhere using that handy Fae tactic of nipping in and out of dimensional existence.  God only knew where he’d decided to go, pulling me along for the unhappy ride.  Wherever it was I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be anywhere that I’d want to go.  My whole stomach exploded in flame in a way that I’d not felt in months, not since Iabartu, and this time I let the sensation flood my body.  Because I was furious.  How dare he do this? 
    The ripples in the air turned purple and then silver.  I blinked several times to try to maintain my vision but it was to no avail, everything remained blurry.  Nausea rose in my stomach, combating the rising fire of ire.  All of a sudden I realised that Solus’ arm was no longer round my waist and I was falling forward onto a polished wooden floor, retching.  My head was spinning and I felt incredibly ill.  I choked and spat, trying