Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 15

"Get off the poor girl before she suffocates, would you?"

Hippy squirmed out from behind Pierus when he s.h.i.+fted to give her some s.p.a.ce.

Poppy kept the gun firmly pointed at his head. "You need to keep your hands to yourself. She's too young for you."

"I'm twenty!" Hippy protested.

"And he's three thousand. That is not okay."

Hippy looked from one to the other, utterly mystified as to where all the tension had come from.

Pierus's mouth tightened into a thin line. The air around him turned so cold it felt like there was a blizzard in the room. "Remove your gun from my face, woman." He got slowly to his feet. "And do not presume to interfere with either me or my fairy." He brushed over Poppy's eyes with his long, thin fingers. The very room might have iced over.

Poppy had opened her mouth to reply, but she didn't say anything. She blinked a couple of times.

"I expect you need some coffee," Pierus said, his tone quite normal and friendly again. The cold eased.

Poppy lowered the gun and scowled at them both. "I need coffee." She stomped off to the kitchen.

Hippy stared after her, utterly bewildered. "Can I have coffee too?"

"Absolutely not," Pierus said. "You'd drive the humans mad, jumping off the hotel in broad daylight. And would you put away that awful spider?"

Hippy pouted and placed Fluffy Ducky in his pouch. Her head hurt too much to try and puzzle out what had just happened. "I feel horrible." She rubbed her pounding forehead.

Pierus laid his hands on either side of her face and gently ma.s.saged her temples. "It's called a hangover."

Hippy closed her eyes and dropped her head forward. The pain drained away under his fingers. "Ishtar and I used to hang over the fortifications all the time and drop fairy dust bombs on vamps, but it never made me feel nasty like this."

His reply was patient. "A hangover is what humans call the sick feeling they get the morning after drinking half a bottle of brandy."

"A drink did this to me?'

"One must be very careful in Dream."

"Why would they want to drink anything that makes them feel this bad?"

"Because humans are not all that concerned with the consequences of their actions. I should know, I used to be one." His fingers stilled, but remained on her temples. "Hippy how much do you remember of last night?"

Hippy raised her eyes to his. She couldn't quite fathom his expression. It lurked somewhere between fear and an odd, possessive, fascination. "Everything."

"You don't hate me?"

"Why would I hate you?" She tilted her head, puzzled. "It was a very nice kiss."

Some tension left his frame. "I was thinking more of the story I told you. I hadn't told it in a very long time. I'm not proud of my human life."

Hippy shrugged. "It was a good story. It had s.h.i.+ny things in it."

Pierus shook his head, but his lips twitched with amus.e.m.e.nt. "b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies." He leaned forward and kissed her affectionately on the forehead. "Do you feel better now?"

She nodded. "I'm hungry."

Poppy chose that moment to storm back into the room. "So am I," she said. She thrust a handful at money at Pierus. "I want you to go buy us some food."

He looked at the money and then back at her. "Why me?"

"Because Hippy will get lost or distracted and because I'm not a morning person."

Pierus glanced pointedly at the clock behind her. "It's two in the afternoon."

"Like I said, I'm not a morning person. There's a cafe on the corner. Go, before I change my mind and shoot you after all."

Pierus took the money. "To think I'm a king in my own land." He slammed out of the room.

"a.s.s." Poppy stomped into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

Hippy sat down and took Fluffy Ducky back out of his pouch. She laid her hand flat so he could sit there and blink at her. "Everybody's in a funny mood this morning," she said.

Fluffy Ducky blinked four of his eight eyes.

She lowered her voice. "The muse king kissed me, Fluffy Ducky."

He waved a hairy foreleg in the air.

"Do you think he likes me?"

This time he waved two forelegs at her.

Hippy nodded. "I think so too. I know it's going to get you and me in big trouble, but it's kind of exciting."

Fluffy Ducky's hairs stood on end and he shuddered.

"You're hungry, right?"

He blinked twice.

Hippy went in search of dead flies and other bugs. She hit pay dirt on a window sill so high she had to climb a few feet up the wall to get to it, and left Fluffy Ducky up there to gorge himself.

After she came back down, Poppy reappeared. Her hair was neatly coifed, her gla.s.ses were straight and she wore a tailored grey skirt suit. There was no sign of a gun at all. She smiled at Hippy. "Come on, I'll get you a gla.s.s of milk. I'm sure that'll be quite safe."

Hippy followed her cautiously into the kitchen, a tiny room with a fridge, a rusty cook top and a narrow bench. She sat on the bench and swung her legs. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much, now I'm awake." Poppy poured milk from a gla.s.s bottle into a chipped cup and handed it to Hippy. "There. Fairies like milk, don't they?"

Hippy shrugged and sipped at the drink. "I like coffee better."

"I know dear, but I'm not prepared to have a hyperactive child climbing my walls."

Hippy narrowed her eyes. "I'm not a child. I'm twenty years old, like I told you."

Poppy leaned against the fridge and folded her arms. "You are a child, compared to him."

Hippy scowled into her milk. "Everyone's a child compared to him."

"Fair point, I suppose." Poppy heaved a deep sigh. "Look, I know good and well it's none of my business, I've barely known you for a day, but you seem like a nice kid and he seems likewell" she paused, at a loss for words. "I'm just saying be careful, alright? Men are all nice when they want something, but later on they can get mean."

"My sister Ishtar had a boyfriend who was mean to her once."

"Really? What did she do?"

"She tied a rock to his head and dropped him from the fortifications." Hippy giggled. "It was funny."

"Yeah well, if Pierus is ever mean to you, you just follow her example, alright?"

"I don't understand why you're so upset." Hippy set her empty cup down. "It was just a kiss."

"Just a kiss?" Poppy looked faintly relieved and disapproving at the same time. "When I saw you on the couch together I thoughtyou know"

Hippy knew. Poppy thought the same thing Ishtar and Nikifor both thought. Maybe they were all right. She didn't really want to consider that. Kissing was one thing, anything else with Pierus ew. But she didn't want Poppy to get her gun out again, so she didn't say anything. She slid off the bench at the sound of Pierus's footsteps outside the kitchen. "The vamps are coming to find us tonight. I can't wait." She skipped from the room.

Right after they'd all eaten, Poppy started packing up her belongings. Hippy watched the frenetic activity for a few minutes. She scooped Fluffy Ducky off the floor after Poppy very nearly trod on him and never even noticed.

"What are you doing?" Pierus asked.

"Leaving this hotel. Obviously. It was probably unwise to stay here a second after Tony brought Hippy back last night, but getting a room that late is murder. We need new digs." Poppy shoved some clothes and the gun into a big bag and zipped it up. "You ready?"

"Rustam Badora said he had Tony following us all day yesterday," Hippy said. "What if he just follows us again?"

"Ah. Good thinking." Poppy's forehead wrinkled. "You two can act as a diversion. I'll come meet you later."

"Indeed." Pierus stretched his legs out and studied her face. "And what happens if you don't come to meet us? You're not thinking of losing us and going after the Apple of Chaos on your own?"

"As a matter of fact I would like nothing more than to lose you, in particular, in a very deep hole," Poppy said. "Unfortunately I have no leads without the two of you and you two haven't got a hope in h.e.l.l of making it without me, so let's not quibble. Oh, and for the record, I'm after the box, not the Apple of G.o.dd.a.m.n Chaos. So I suggest you go and be conspicuous and meet me in three hours atah"

"The Acropolis," Pierus said. "I should like to show it to Hippy."

"Fine." Poppy hoisted her bags.

"I should come armed if I were you, that close to sunset."

"Right. Wooden stakes at dusk. You two go ahead so I can get out unnoticed."

Pierus put a hand on Hippy's back. They left the room and headed for the elevators. "What did she mean wooden stakes?" Hippy whispered.

"Humans have some foolish ideas about a stake to the heart killing vampires."

Hippy tilted her head and considered this while she watched the elevator light travel up to them before the doors rattled open. She hung on to Pierus during the quick, rapid descent in the metal box. "I suppose it would work, if you could get that close. Fairy dust is better. Or a spear. That works well."

"Since neither of us has a spear, I trust you have your fairy dust handy." Pierus slipped his hand into hers when they left the hotel and walked out into the afternoon suns.h.i.+ne. A few lines smoothed from his face and his shoulders relaxed when they put distance between themselves and the hotel.

Hippy had to walk very fast to keep up with his long strides, but she didn't mind. It was a warm day and she was exploring Dream, hand in hand with the muse king. Things were really going very well. If only the fairies could see her now, they wouldn't make fun anymore.

Pierus hesitated on the edge of a busy footpath, in full view of all the traffic and pedestrians, looking around. Hippy had no idea if he'd seen anything, but a moment later he plunged them into the city. They hurried across busy roads, dodged traffic and wove their way through road after road bordered by towering buildings.

"Do you know where we're going?" she asked after the tenth dizzying corner. "All these streets look the same!"

"It's very different to what I remember," he said. "But I'd know my way to the Acropolis blindfolded. It was the one place in Athens I was able to visit."

"Did you go there with Pandora?"

"Never."

They crossed another road, walked past some older houses and into a stand of trees. Hippy skipped along at Pierus's side. She liked it under the dense green canopy. It reminded her of the forest near home.

Pierus gave her an indulgent smile. "Now look."

At the edge of the trees the ground sloped away beneath them to a descending pathway of forest. Beyond that rose a hillside covered in white stone ruins. The afternoon sun cast a distant building lined with pillars in bars of light and shadow.

Hippy's breath caught in her chest. She stared. "It's beautiful."

"Come on. I'll show you everything." He tugged on her hand.

Hippy followed him, amazed he could look so much younger in this place. She glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see Pandora following behind, but all she could see was a Freakin Fairy-shaped shadow flicker into the trees. She gave a cheery wave, then turned all of her attention to the muse king.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

Late afternoon sunlight slanted across the stone floors of the Parthenon, the huge temple at the peak of the Acropolis. The sun s.h.i.+ning between the pillars patterned the stone in light and shadow so intense you could have tripped over it. A few tourists still straggled around, looking at the carvings, talking about Zeus, laughing with each other.

Hippy stood in a warm, golden slant of sunlight. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back. The sun made lights behind her eyelids and warmed her skin. The air carried a faint aroma of flowers and smoke. Dream was so strange and exotic and busy. She hadn't realised until this moment just how much she liked it. There was always something going on, but no boundaries. Here she could do anything she wanted to, if only she could stay.

Soft footfalls approached. A hand slid around her waist and something soft and smooth brushed her face. Hippy opened her eyes and smiled at the purple daisy in Pierus's fingers.

He tucked the stem behind her ear and smoothed her hair back. "It's almost sunset."

"I know." Hippy curled her fingers into his long coat.

"We don't seem to have done much in the way of preparing to meet the vampires." Pierus's mouth crooked up.

"What's to prepare for?" Hippy turned in his arm and leaned against him so she could watch the sun turning the ruins pretty shades of orange. His arms wrapped around her. "Poppy should be here soon."

"Indeed." Pierus sounded like he didn't think she'd turn up at all. "I wouldn't count on her too much, my dear."