Malik wasn’t the only one who’d gained extra powers from our exchange of blood. I had too.

And I could use them.

I was still staring, bubbling with excitement that at last I might be able to wield some sort of magic, when my bedroom door slammed open behind me. I turned. A black shape rushed me, grabbed the back of the leather coat and hauled me up to dangle about six inches above the floor. I choked, the coat’s collar cutting off my air. My gaze fixed on a pair of swirling turquoise eyes. Pulse racing, I kicked out, getting a lucky foot in, and my captor yelped and flung me back. I crash-landed in a heap for the second time in as many minutes.

There was a crack and a football-sized globe bathed the room in light; one of Sylvia’s Moonshine spells.

Tavish was hunched over by the bottom of my bed, hands between his legs, eyes now murky grey with pain, the beads on his dreads flickering from bright turquoise to the same muddy colour.

‘Genny!’ Sylvia cried from the doorway, her head of blossomy twigs quivering with concern. ‘Oh my goodness, are you all right? Tavish said you were with that vampire at Regent’s Park, and that he wouldn’t let Tavish see you. What happened? Did he hurt you?’ Sylvia moved to look down at me, spring-green eyes sparkling with concern and curiosity. ‘Why aren’t you getting up? Do you need to be healed?’

‘I’m fine,’ I croaked, rubbing my throat. ‘Or I would be if that stupid kelpie hadn’t tried to strangle me.’

Tavish snorted. ‘You kicked me!’

‘You were choking me!’

He shifted gingerly. ‘You didnae look like yourself for a second, doll.’ His words were part apology and part question. ‘’Twas as if darkness slicked your soul like oil on water, but ’tis washed away now.’

‘Yeah, well,’ I grumbled, ‘if you started looking at folk’s shells instead of checking out their souls to see if you can take a sneaky mouthful, then maybe you’d recognise them more often.’ Idiot kelpie and his soul-tasting habits. Though his comment made me frown. Was my odd-looking-soul moment down to my recycled blood? Maybe it was like the Ward not quite recognising me? Not that that let Tavish off the hook.

‘You did look weird, Genny,’ Sylvia exclaimed. ‘Your eyes had these tiny blue flames. They’re gone now, though,’ Sylvia said, moving to peer down at me. ‘What were they for?’

‘It’s a power thing,’ I said, still hardly believing it. ‘I froze Bertha.’

‘You did?’ Sylvia gasped. ‘Oh my goodness, is she dead?’

‘No such luck,’ I muttered, then louder, ‘she’s fine. It’s just a temporary freeze so I could avoid her.’ I looked out the window. Bertha was back in her pool, head stuck up like a vigilant periscope, eyeballing the point where I’d entered the Ward as if she expected me to reappear any moment. ‘She doesn’t like me.’

‘Oh, I’m so glad you didn’t kill her,’ Sylvia said, obviously relieved as she offered me a hand. ‘She’s so sweet, and of course she likes you. Bertha loves to tease, that’s all.’

I huffed as I untangled my legs from the heavy coat and let her pull me to my feet. ‘By taking chunks out of my arse?’

‘It’s a nice arse.’ Sylvia grinned, then stroked her finger down the coat’s lapel. ‘This is nice too, though it’s a bit big for you. Have you been shopping again?’ She tilted her head, pursing her cherry-red lips. ‘No wait, I recognise it. It’s that vamp’s coat, isn’t it?’ Her eyes widened, and before I could stop her, she’d pulled the collar open. ‘Oh, you’ve been Fanged.’ She peered closer, enveloping me in her sweet cherry-blossom scent. ‘More than once, I’d say too. Oh my, Genny, are you all right? He didn’t hurt you, did he?’

‘No—’ I shifted away, taking me, my Fanged throat and Malik’s coat out of her curious reach and felt a prick of magic that wouldn’t let me lie – he had hurt me when he half-drowned me – and that made me add, ‘not in the way you mean.’

‘Genny!’ Her head twigs shook with determination and she crossed her arms. The movement drew my attention to her ‘Hello Boys’ cleavage, and envy filled me as a familiar pinballs of magic jumped to life inside me; Harrods’ Magic Mirror spell. Damn, I’d thought I’d got rid of that.Before the hex could get its ‘plastic surgery’ tendrils into me again, I quickly averted my eyes to Tavish.

He was giving me a look that said a lecture was coming my way, so I went on the offensive. ‘And there was no reason for you to check up on me, either.’

The beads on his dreads flashed crimson with anger. ‘Aye, there was, doll. Given what I found.’

‘What did you find?’ Sylvia questioned.

Malik using my magic and me out for the count. Something Sylvia didn’t need to know. I risked a quick apologetic glance at her. ‘Sorry, Syl, but is it okay if I speak to Tavish alone?’

Her eyes rounded in astonishment for a moment, then she gave me a conspiratorial wink. ‘Course, no probs, Genny. I wouldn’t want to hear anything that Mother would want to know anyway. It’ll drive her crazy if she thinks she’s missing out on things and she can’t force it out of me.’ She patted her barely there bump. ‘And Baby Grace needs her sleep. See you in the morning.’ She turned then looked over her shoulder. ‘Oh, and before I forget, Katie dropped your phones off earlier. They’re charging on the landing.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, and we waited until the wardrobe door clunked, then Tavish set a Privacy spell. Lust sputtered, then, to my relief, snuffed out, and I reminded myself to check my emails for Ana’s Poultice spell so I could keep the leaking Fertility pendant’s side-effect in check. Though hopefully I wasn’t going to need it, not if there were to be more nights like tonight with Malik . . . Of course, first we needed to sort out a few more ground rules; like when things started looking iffy, talking was the way to go, not packing me off home like some delicate damsel who needed protection.

‘So, you’ve been sharing blood and power with the vampire, doll,’ Tavish said, breaking into my thoughts. ‘And now the pair of you can use each other’s magics.’

Chapter Thirty-Three

‘Yeah.’ I gave him a considering look. ‘Malik wants it kept quiet. Says it’s dangerous and I agree with him.’

Tavish snorted. ‘Well, you’re nae wrong, doll. But I ken we decided ’twas best you stayed away from him and the rest, till we know what’s what with this Emperor.’

Yeah, well I decided it wasn’t best, Mr Grumpy.And as I wasn’t about to debate it with him, I hit him with my next attack. ‘Oh, and thanks for telling me there was silver in that werewolf repellent.’

His gills snapped shut in embarrassment. ‘Aye, well, you were nae meant to use more than a wee drop. ’Twould nae have harmed you then.’

As I’d thought. Still, he should’ve told me. I shot him another scowl to show I hadn’t quite forgiven him yet, then filled him in on the Tower card and my visit to see the Bangladeshi ambassador; the werewolves having something to do with the kidnap victims; the Emperor wanting Janan, the Bonder of Souls; and that given my quick trip home it didn’t look like Malik was going to help me get to the Emperor, since it looked like there was a throwdown in the offing between the Emperor and the Autarch. I finished with, ‘So apart from the long-term problems that a vamp takeover bid could cause all of us, we’re no closer to finding the Emperor or what he wants in return for the info about releasing the fae’s fertility from the pendant.’

‘Hmph. I’ll be chatting again to the vampire, doll, and see what this vampire takeover business ’tis about. ’Tis maybe naught but a storm in a teacup, but so long as they keep to their agreements’– the beads on his dreads flashed a warning red – ‘it doesnae matter who’s in charge. So dinna fash yourself about the blood-suckers.’

I stared at him. I wasgoing to worry about the blood-suckers. Malik, and a few others who were my friends. And I did think it mattered who was in charge. But Tavish and I obviously lived in different worlds, and I wasn’t going to waste my breath arguing with him about it. I already knew he and Malik were allies, not friends, only drawn together by what the other could offer . . .