The pair of them grumbled. “How do we know that you’re not just trying to get rid of us?”

“Frankly, I am trying to get rid of you. But I give you my word that I will see you there later. And I do need to know as much about it as possible. You know that if you need to find me all you have to do is set up one tiny Divination spell. It’s not like you can’t track me down if you want to.”

They looked at each other for a moment, then at me. They nodded slowly. “Okay then.”

“What are your names?” I asked.

“Larkin,” muttered the one on the right. He pointed at his companion. “He’s Max.”

“Well, Larkin and Max, off you go then.”

They didn’t move. I stared at them warningly.

“What about him?” Max jerked his head towards Beltran who was eyeing me with an appraising air.

“He’s going to go to Cardiff and persuade some environmental activists that they need to pack up sticks and head here to save the trees of Haughmond Hill. If anyone can encourage a bunch of people to come and save the natural world, then it’s got to be a faerie.”

The Fae watched me impassively for a moment, and I thought he was going to flat out refuse, but then he eventually nodded. A flicker of relief ran through me.

“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked.

“I’m going to finish my fucking breakfast. You can stay out here and look busy.”

She looked faintly sad for a moment. Remembering her voracious appetite from our previous encounter in Cornwall, I felt a twinge of guilt but I firmly pushed it away. It wasn’t my job to entertain her stomach or my fault that she had elected to follow me around.

I gestured at them all. “Well?”

There was a frozen silent heartbeat then, thank goodness, they all nodded and moved off, apart from Lucy who took a step back and bowed her head. I watched their departures for a brief moment and then turned and went back across the road and into the café.

Chapter Twelve

Aubrey was still under the table when I re-entered. There was an empty plate on top of the linen table cloth, however, signifying exactly what he’d been doing while I’d been attempting to avert World War Three. I moved back to my original seat, and picked up my knife and fork to begin eating again. Unfortunately, my food had cooled considerably in my absence. Something else to blame those idiots for, I thought sourly.

“Mack,” hissed Aubrey. “Where were you? What happened?”

I ignored him, and instead continued to chew. I’d been interrupted enough as it was. I was going to enjoy the rest of my meal without letting anyone else disturb me. Aubrey continued to mutter at me from underneath the table, but I let him continue without bothering to answer. I noted from across the road that Lucy had pulled out a mobile phone and was fiddling away with it, her eyes intent on the screen in a manner that any technologically astute teenager would be proud of. At least she was taking the hint and trying to look less out of place. A couple of clatters sounded from where I presumed the kitchen was, but I let the sounds wash over me and instead poured myself more coffee. Life wasn’t so bad after all.

Eventually, when I was done, I leaned down, picking up the edge of the tablecloth, and peered at Aubrey. He looked abjectly miserable, scrunched up into some bizarrely uncomfortable foetal-like position. There were some remaining crumbs of black pudding around his mouth. He was clearly a messier human eater than he had been vamp. When he saw me looking at him, he pouted.

“You were ignoring me,” he stated plaintively.

“Imagine that. Get out from under there, Aubrey. You’re making a fool of yourself.”

“Are they still there?”

“One of them is. It doesn’t matter though,” I said casually, “I told them what you are.”

“What?” he shrieked, lifting up his head and banging it yet again on the underside of the table.

“You heard me.” I pulled myself back up.

Aubrey crawled out backwards, and then sat back on his haunches and glared at me.

“You betrayed me!”

I shrugged and put my coffee cup down. He lunged abruptly towards me, fingers curled into claws. I grabbed him by the throat and held his snarling face away, trying to avoid the remnants of black pudding tinged saliva that were spraying out in my direction. He choked and spluttered.

“Let’s get one thing straight, oh master vampire,” I said sarcastically, “you are here on sufferance. If you want to leave, then you are more than welcome to do so. I rescind my previous instruction. If you want to stay, then you need to goddamn well start behaving yourself. I know for a fact that there’s a were-honey badger across the road who will quite happily rip you from limb to limb, whether you’re human or otherwise. I am becoming mightily sick of all this emotional bullshit. Get your shit together or get out.”

His eyes bulged, glaring at me even through the pain, then he finally blinked in agreement and I let him go. He collapsed onto the floor.

“You’re a mean bitch,” he choked out.

“Oh yeah? Well, ten minutes ago you were telling me how nice I was.”

“I lied,” he spat.

“There’s the door,” I stated calmly, pointing.

He put on a grumpy expression. “It’s too sunny outside.”

“Suit yourself.” I pulled out my laptop and opened it up. It was time to get to work.

A creak signalled the return of the waitress. She raised her eyebrows slightly at the sight of Aubrey on the floor, and flicked a concerned glance at me.

“I’m sorry about my companion,” I said. “He’s going to sit on his chair now and behave.”

Aubrey scrambled up with a groan, no doubt still under compulsion, and sat down on his original chair. I raised my eyebrows at him. He looked away and scowled.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“I don’t think she quite heard that.”

His eyes sent daggers towards me, but he turned to face the waitress and spoke up. “I’m sorry.” He cleared his throat. “I suffer from panic attacks from time to time. It won’t happen again.”

“Oh, that’s alright, hen,” she clucked, “I understand.” She patently didn’t, of course, but the pair of us remained safely silent as she cleared away the table.

“Can I get wifi here?” I asked, hopefully. “And maybe another pot of coffee?”

“Of course.” She reached into a pocket in her apron and pulled out a small strip of paper, handing to over to me. “Here’s the password. I’ll just put some more coffee on to brew.”

I smiled gratefully, watching as she headed back out again, then turned my attention to the laptop, opening up the internet so I could get to my email.

I could feel Aubrey bristling beside me. “What the fuck is wrong with you now?” I murmured, without looking at him.

“She called me hen,” he said disgustedly. “As if I’m a piece of poultry. If I wasn’t human, I’d…” his voice trailed off.

“You’d what?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, subsiding.

I looked over at him thoughtfully. He was tracing something onto the table top, eyes downward. Was that how I sounded when I got pissed off? All whiny and self-centred? He felt my eyes on him and flicked me an upwards glance. I looked away, logging on instead. I was not going to start comparing myself to an ex-undead Otherworld nastie. I had enough inner turmoil to deal with as it was.

Thankfully, there was a message from Alex to divert my attention. I opened it up, scanning its contents, then frowned, my stomach suddenly dropping and a churn of bloodfire flaring up.

I held my hand out to Aubrey, palm outwards. “Phone,” I demanded, rudely.

“Huh?”

“Give me your fucking phone,” I repeated.

“Well, there’s no need to be so ill-mannered,” he snapped. Fortunately for him, he dug into his pocket and handed it over.

I dialled Alex’s number and waited for him to pick up.

“Mack Attack? Is that you?”

“Yeah,” I answered without preamble. “I just read your email. Tell me in more detail what you saw.”

“Dude, you have no idea. You didn’t tell me what the shop assistant was going to be like, I mean, jeez, it’s enough to give a grown mage nightmares.”

“Alex, just tell me.”

“Okay, okay, dude, don’t get your knickers in a twist. So I was watching all night to see who went in and out. Like I said in the email there was a steady stream of people. A couple of vamps, some shady looking characters, a few who were clearly using masking spells to hide what they really were, I think I even spotted a couple of mages. Then I saw her, the Batibat, when she went to see somebody off. It was just for a split second but, damn. Not only does she look as if she’s in serious need of a personal trainer, she is also as freaking naked as the day she was born. That image is going to be seared into my brain for the rest of my natural life. I know you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances, but, man, that’s one unpleasant looking lady.”

I flicked a glance over at Aubrey, to check to see whether he could hear Alex’s feedback, but he wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention. He’d gone back to examining his fingernails again, picking away at a small hangnail, then watching in astonishment as a tiny bead of blood formed at the edge.

“Is this the first time you’ve seen a Batibat, Alex?”

“Dude, I’d never even heard of one till you told me about her the other day. I wish I’d still never heard of one.”

I could almost feel his shudder from across the airwaves. I was coming close to shuddering myself. I didn’t like coincidences.

“Has there been any sign of the owner?”

“Not that I can see. How long do I need to stay here? I could do with a shower after all that.”

“I need you to stay there until you can work out who’s really in charge, Alex.”