Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 13

"From Poppy." Hippy watched the light move from floor to floor with a growing sense of dread. How Tony knew exactly which floor to go to she didn't know. At least, when they got off on the twenty-second floor, he didn't know which door to go to.

Until she showed him. She couldn't help but feel she shouldn't have done that.

Tony thumped on the door.

A few seconds later Poppy thrust it open and brandished a gun the length of her arm in his face. "What do you want?"

Tony grabbed Hippy by the scruff of the neck and thrust her at Poppy. "I believe you lost this." He paused, blinked rapidly and looked closer at Poppy. "Praeconius?"

"No, it's the Easter Bunny." Poppy grabbed Hippy and pulled her inside.

"You got that box thing yet?"

"Back off Tony, you said I had a week!" Poppy shut the door in his face, turned her back and leaned against it. A muscle in her jaw quivered. She laid the gun on the table next to the door and turned on Hippy. "Where in the blazing h.e.l.l have you been?"

Hippy quailed. Poppy angry was a sight to behold, and she'd had her share of frightening creatures already tonight. She backed up fast.

Pierus thrust a chair under her. "Sit." His voice was dry and cold.

She collapsed into it.

Hippy looked up at the both of them with wide eyes. Yep, they were both pretty mad. Her first attempt at talking came out in a squeak, so she tried again. "Did you know Tony was a vamp?"

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Hippy sat in the chair with her hands folded in her lap. Poppy and Pierus towered over her. This was worse than when the elders told her off after Pierus asked if she could go to Dream with him. Much worse, because they were both much taller and she was getting a crick in her neck.

"Tony's not a vamp," Poppy said. "It's impossible."

"But he got bit by Rustam Badora."

"That's the vampire king?"

Hippy nodded.

Pierus spoke through clenched teeth, his face white with fury. "I told you not to go hunting vampires on your own!"

"I wasn't on my own, I was with Tony."

"Since when?" Poppy demanded. "Last thing we saw you were on the balcony. We were worried sick when you disappeared! We didn't know what happened to you!"

"Oh, that's easy. I saw a Freakin Fairy on the other balcony, so we both jumped off and then played chase."

Pierus went from white to bright red. "You saw a Freakin Fairy?"

"Saw him? We got in a fight! It was lots of fun."

Pierus put a hand over his eyes. His voice was strangled. "All of Shadow is at stake and I'm stuck with a b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy!"

Hippy scowled at him. "What else was I supposed to do? Tell him I'm not allowed out? Hang around here and argue while Rustam Badora is out killing Tony's friends?"

Pierus sighed. "Poppy, would you excuse us for one moment?"

"I'll make some coffee." Poppy stomped into the other room.

"What's coffee?" Hippy eyed Pierus, nervous. He had a funny look on his face.

"Hippy." Pierus crouched down in front of her, bringing himself to eye level. He placed his hands on either side of the chair. His brow was wrinkled just enough to create all sorts of fascinating lines and furrows. His dark hair tangled over his ears. "I need you to listen to me very carefully. I know it's not in your nature to pay attention, or obey orders, but this is important."

"Alright." Hippy tried not to let him see how her blood was pumping overtime from nerves. She absolutely did not want the muse king to know he made her nervous by being so close.

"You are too important to take these kinds of risks."

Hippy blinked. "I am?"

"Yes, you are." He leaned in a little closer. "I can't retrieve the Apple of Chaos without you."

"Oh." Of course that was why. No need to be unaccountably disappointed.

"And-" he paused, apparently struggling to frame the next words. "Well, the thing is, my dear girl, you've becomethat is" he paused. "Perhaps it's because you're so like her."

"Huh? Who?"

"Pandora." He dragged another chair over and sat opposite her, this time not quite so close. He looked directly into her eyes. "Hippy Ishtar, you have become important to me. For more than just the mission."

Hippy tilted her head to one side. She felt like she should say something sensible, or profound. "Rustam Badora licked my face. It was really disgusting."

Pierus tensed, closed his eyes, looked away and took a lot of deep breaths.

Poppy walked back in, dragged a table over, set three hot cups on it and sat with them.

Hippy sniffed her cup. The most intriguing aroma came out of it. "What's this?"

"Coffee. Drink up, it's going to be a long night." Poppy took a sip.

Hippy took a cautious sip of her coffee and burned her tongue. "Ow!"

Poppy grinned. "Let it cool a little, dear. Now where were we?"

"I think it would be best if Hippy told us everything that happened tonight." Pierus appeared to have composed himself.

Hippy thought about it for a minute. "Well, first I chased the fairy into an alley that smelled nasty. There were two other people from Shadow there and they said to tell you you'd never find the Apple of Chaos. They said to find another way to deal with the vamps."

Pierus's upper lip took on a disdainful curl. "What did they look like?"

Hippy shrugged. "They wore cloaks. They were tall, but not like you. And the Freakin Fairy did what they told him to. Weird, huh?"

Poppy gave Pierus a sharp look. "Well? Sounds like you have enemies."

He snorted. "Nothing worth worrying about. If they're all that stands between us and the Apple we'll be home by tomorrow."

"Who are they?" Hippy thought about the arrow safely hidden in one of the pouches at her belt, but she didn't take it out in case he just took it away again.

"n.o.body," Pierus said.

Poppy's voice was sharp. "Look buddy, if we're going to be a team and find this thing you need to start sharing. Answer the G.o.dd.a.m.n question."

Pierus arched an eyebrow at her. "Literally, n.o.body," he said. "You don't live for three thousand years without attracting a few fringe lunatics. They call themselves the Invisible Army and they make it their business to follow me around and generally be irritating. Apparently now they've decided they don't want me making their homes and families safe from the vampires."

"They seemed nice." Hippy took a sip of her coffee. This time it didn't burn. It was bitter, but it made her feel good.

Pierus's voice turned acid. "Of course they seemed nice. They want to win you to their cause. If they got their hands on you for longer than five minutes, mark my words, they'd say or do anything to turn you against me."

Hippy felt like he'd slapped her. She buried her face in her coffee and sniffed loudly.

"See, now you're sounding like a giant a.s.s again," Poppy said. "Lay off her, would you?"

There was silence. When Hippy looked up from her cup again, Pierus's eyes were on her.

"Continue," he said. "What happened next?"

"I left them there and I went to look at the sparkly dresses," Hippy said. She stared into her coffee. "I like sparkly things. Like vamps covered with fairy dust, right before they turn to petrified ash."

"Focus, dear." Poppy tapped the table with her index finger. "How'd you hook up with Tony?"

"Oh!" Hippy took another sip of coffee. She felt really good. Energetic. Her words tumbled out faster. "He pushed me into his car and was going on about his missing friends, so we went to the rendezvous point to look for them, but Rustam Badora was there so I broke Tony's nose, then Rustam licked my face and it was really really gross, so I hit Tony again and he got upset." She paused for breath, but went on before Pierus or Poppy could respond. "You know, Badora's not nearly as scary as I always thought, he's just another vamp and he said he wasn't going to kill me until we were both back in Shadow but I told him I'd make him sparkle first and then he said I should tell Pierus he wants a truce but it was a stupid truce. Is it true you stole something from Pandora and made the vamps?" She blinked rapidly and stared at Pierus.

His mouth twitched. "Poppy, take the coffee away from her."

Hippy grabbed the mug and tipped the rest down her throat before Poppy could respond. "Is it true?" she repeated.

There was a long silence. Pierus tapped his fingers on the table. Hippy twitched.

"It's true I had a hand in creating the vampires," Pierus finally said. "To my eternal regret."

"You're responsible for vampires?" Poppy rubbed her forehead. She looked tired.

Pierus looked away from them both. "Believe you me, if I'd had any idea what would become of it, I'd never have allowed Pandora-" he broke off.

"People must want to smack you in the head a lot, huh?" Poppy said.

Hippy giggled and bounced up and down in her chair.

Pierus gave a weary sigh. "Hippy, tell me about this truce. And do try to slow down a bit."

Hippy stared at the roof and tried to gather her rather scattered thoughts. "Well." She drew the word out. "He said if you opened the rip and let the vamp army into Dream he'd leave Shadow alone forever but if you didn't he'd raise an army here and take them back to Shadow to crush us all forever and all he wants is a home for his army and a reliable food supply." She stopped and panted for breath.

Pierus snorted. "What makes him think he'll get an army back into Shadow without my help?"

"This sounds like a really nasty guy," Poppy said. "Maybe Hippy's right. Maybe we need to stop him first."

Hippy got up out of her chair and paced around the room. She had so much energy right now. She considered for a moment, then walked right up a wall and onto the nice high roof. From her upside down position she saw Poppy go pale.

"Get down!" Poppy yelled. "My G.o.d, if anybody saw you!"

"Okay." Hippy let go and dropped to the floor. At the last minute she rolled, jumped to her feet and walked up the wall again.

Poppy buried her face in her hands.

"You did give her coffee," Pierus said. "What did you think was going to happen?"

"I don't know. I'm not used to b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies!"

Hippy dropped from the roof and rolled again. Before she could head back to the wall a third time Pierus grabbed the back of her s.h.i.+rt and held her in place. "Hippy."

"What?" She jumped up and down on the spot.

"When am I to give Badora his answer?"

"He's coming to find us tomorrow night."

Poppy groaned. "If you don't make her stop that I'm going to feed her to the vampires myself."

"Can I go hunt vamps?" Hippy stopped jumping and turned around. "Please? Please can I? I promise I'll be good for a whole day, honest." She bolted for the door.

"Hippy Ishtar."

Pierus's sharp voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Come back here and sit down."

Hippy scowled, stomped back to the table and sat.

"Is there any way to counteract the effects of this drug?"

"Caffeine's not a drug." Poppy yawned and eyed Hippy. "Well, maybe if you're a b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy. But you know what? I can't function on no sleep. Unlike you two, apparently. She's just got to wear it off. Take her up on the roof and let her jump off it a few times. Or even better, try a depressant." She went over to a small cupboard, took out a bottle of amber-coloured liquid and plonked it on the table. "Brandy. I'm going to bed. Make any more noise and I'll shoot you both." She left the room and firmly closed the door behind her.

Hippy sat still for a whole two seconds. Her heart thudded uncomfortably fast. Her skin itched. She felt like she was going to burst. She really, really needed to keep moving. "Roof," she said. "I feel weird."

Pierus gestured at the door. "After you, my dear."

Hippy didn't look back. She left the room, found the stairs and ran up eight flights. The final door led to the roof of the hotel, a bare concrete expanse. Pierus hadn't even caught up yet. She jogged to the edge of the roof and looked down. From up here she couldn't even see the ground. Wow. She wondered if the Freakin Fairy was watching.