Blackthorn [3] Blood Torn (42 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

‘T
hat’s it?’

‘That’s it,’ Jask said, as they both looked from the shadows of the alley across at the shop. ‘She lives beneath it. The steps are down the side.’

Sophia nodded. As she moved to step forward, Jask grabbed her arm.

‘I’ll be here waiting,’ he said.

She held his gaze for a moment. ‘I’ll do this.’

‘I know.’

It was all she needed to hear.

Sophia crossed the road and headed down the alley that ran alongside the shop. She descended the narrow stone steps, her hand clutching the wet handrail to prevent herself slipping on the smoothness of the worn stone.

The windowless door was nestled in the tiny recess at the bottom.

She straightened her shoulders, steadied her breathing and knocked.

Tamara, if she was in, took her time. Long enough for Sophia to lift her clenched hand ready to knock again, until she heard the sliding of bolts on the other side.

The door opened only a fraction before a woman, maybe in her late thirties, opened the door. She frowned, then her eyes widened. She opened the door fully, revealing the line of salt that marked the inside of the door.

‘Tamara, right?’ Sophia said.

Tamara stood there in her oversized sweater and jeans, her sharp, kohled blue eyes raking Sophia from head to foot.

‘Are you alone?’ Sophia asked.

Tamara nodded. ‘Are you what my spidey-sense is telling me you are?’

Sophia folded her arms and cocked her hip to the side. ‘Do I have to invite myself in?’

Tamara stepped back, clearing the doorway. ‘It’s not every day a serryn turns up on your doorstep.’

‘Then I guess you can put this down as one of your lucky ones,’ Sophia remarked, stepping inside.

A door lay ajar at the end of the short hallway, the flickering flame light beyond the only source of light.

‘Sacrificing late into the night, huh?’ Sophia asked.

Tamara almost smiled, albeit still warily. ‘Go on through.’

The heavy curtains were drawn over the small windows, the fire kicking off heat from inside the log burner directly ahead, the flames reflecting on the stone grate and surround.

Tamara indicated towards the left of the small double sofas that sat either side of it.

Sophia sank into the middle one whilst the witch took the one opposite.

Now, in the glow, she could see the true brightness of Tamara’s eyes, sharp against her dark hair. She could also detect the telltale signs of her age by the crow’s feet and faint lines around her mouth.

Tamara stood up again almost immediately. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Sure,’ Sophia said, by instinct. ‘No, actually…’ She needed to keep a clear mind. She needed more than anything not to let Jask down. Not to let herself down. ‘I’m fine. Thanks.’

‘I’m hoping you don’t mind if I get myself one.’

‘Feel free.’

Tamara returned only moments later, resuming her seat and taking a sip from her cut-glass tumbler, her eyes unflinching from Sophia.

Aside from her sister, it was the first time she’d looked into the eyes of a witch – or interpreter as was the politically correct term. Her stomach clenched under the intensity, as if Tamara could read her very thoughts.

Something on the fire cracked and Sophia flinched.

Tamara frowned, only momentarily, but enough for Sophia to know she needed to get a grip. The witch was waiting for her to take the lead. Expecting her to take the lead.

‘I need some turmeric,’ she said, getting to the point.

Tamara raised her eyebrows just a fraction. ‘Turmeric?’

‘Word has it that you have a source.’

Her eyes flashed with concern. ‘Word from where?’

‘Nowhere for you to worry about. So is it true?’

‘You must know how rare turmeric is. Blackthorn isn’t exactly the best environment to be growing it – in terms of temperature that is.’

‘I know you don’t just grow things yourself, Tamara. I know you have links. And one of those links told me you have a supply here.’

‘How much are you needing exactly?’

‘I’ll take whatever you’ve got.’

‘What do you want it for?’

‘That’s not of your concern.’

‘Oh, on the contrary – it’s very much of my concern.’

Sophia’s stomach flipped. There shouldn’t have been any question at all, let alone any confrontation.

‘You must know the exchange, sale or giving of any plant, herb or spice in Blackthorn and Lowtown is strictly prohibited,’ Tamara added.

Already it was going wrong. She needed to pull back control. She needed to take charge – but smartly, calmly. She needed to keep Jask at the forefront of her mind. She needed to remember how he had handled Travis. She
had
to keep her eye on the ball. ‘Who’s going to know?’

‘My business is all I have,’ Tamara declared. ‘It’s my lifeline. I lose it, and I may as well become a feeder in this district.’

‘That’s not going to happen.’

‘You can guarantee that, can you? Serryn you may be, but this is a whole other world now. You ladies can’t go around lording it like you used to. None of us can.’

‘I beg to differ. I’m here to collect and I’m assured you’re the witch to collect from. And I’m guessing my blood will be as useful to you as your turmeric will be to me.’

Tamara took a sip of her drink, her gaze unflinching on Sophia’s.

There was a time when such reticence amidst her own desperation would have pressed every impatient button and made her explode.

But not this time. She wouldn’t let it overrule
this
time – not with so much at stake for Jask if she lost. Because this
had
become as much about Jask’s plight as seeing things through for her sisters.

He’d trusted her. He’d trusted her to save his pack – a trust that came hard to him. She wouldn’t let him down.

‘
Very
useful for lining bullets,’ Sophia added. ‘
Very
effective protection.’

‘Turmeric is rarely on anyone’s list. It’s very specific.’ Suspicion glinted in the witch’s eyes. ‘What did you say your name was?’

Sophia crossed her legs, stretched her arms across the back of the low sofa. She glanced into the flames. ‘You’re an associate of Kane Malloy from what I hear.’ She looked back at her. ‘Do you really expect me to disclose who I am to you?’

Tamara’s eyes narrowed. ‘You
have
been asking around.’

‘Is he why you’re asking so many questions? Are you planning to disclose there’s a serryn loose in Blackthorn?’

‘My loyalty to Kane has no bearing on my loyalty to my own.’

‘And I
am
one of your own. So how about you try remembering that before I start getting upset?’

Her eyes flared. ‘Like I said, it’s not how it used to be anymore. Questions get asked now. I’m monitored all the time because of the nature of my shop.’

‘But you do have a
secret
stash somewhere. Something that doesn’t get monitored.’

‘How do I know I can trust you?’

‘You don’t. But you can. And I
will
make it worth your while.’

Tamara took a steadier sip on her drink this time. And a second. She gazed into the flames for a few moments.

Finally, to Sophia’s relief, she stood. She indicated towards the door in the alcove to the left of the log burner.

Sophia followed her out into the flagstoned hallway, down a narrow flight of stairs immediately to the left. Stairs that were treacherous in their steepness, proven by Tamara clutching onto the roped handrail as she descended them with caution. Reaching the bottom, she opened another door and switched on the light.

Sophia stopped herself from entering, her doubts about the witch’s intentions creeping into her mind. But although a witch, Tamara was still just a human physically. And Sophia hadn’t forgotten how to handle herself. Tamara may have had the advantage in height and weight, but so had many others Sophia had taken down.

Besides, she knew her hesitation would only raise questions in the witch’s mind – could have her having second thoughts about issuing her with the turmeric, if that’s what she actually intended at all. Instead she’d remain on her guard, reminding herself of that as she glanced once more up over her shoulder before following Tamara inside.

As they passed through a cold, dark chamber and another door, Sophia expected to find a cavern at the end of it. Instead they entered a clinical whitewashed room. Herbs, plants and unidentifiable specimens were contained in row upon row of jars, vials and boxes that aligned the ceiling-high shelves. Various apparatus including measuring jugs, scales, test tubes and conical flasks adorned the white worktops that were fitted to the periphery of the room, all of it spotless under the powerful lights that shone down from the ceiling.

Indeed, the last thing she’d expected to find was a full-blown laboratory but that, in essence, was exactly what it was.

Not that she could show Tamara she was surprised. Tamara, who was now on her hands and knees at one of the under-worktop cupboards, emptying its contents.

At first Sophia assumed she was just looking for the turmeric supply. Then she realised what the witch was actually doing was clearing the cupboard out. A few minutes later, there was a clunk.

‘I’m assuming you’re not claustrophobic?’ Tamara asked without even glancing over her shoulder as she crawled inside.

As it so happened, small spaces were another of Sophia’s pet hates – probably a part of a drowning-evoked claustrophobia – and part of the reason she had recoiled in such horror that Jask had the casketing procedures he did.

Nonetheless, Sophia stepped up to the cupboard and eased down onto her haunches to peer into the entrance Tamara had created. A door had been opened, obviously on some kind of concealed latch system. The tunnel ahead was less than a foot long. Another glow, this one amber, emanated from beyond.

Getting onto her hands and knees, she crawled through behind her.

This time she did enter a cavern – a cold but dry cavern, the recesses stacked with more jars, vials and boxes and sacks upon sacks of leaves and herbs.

Tamara was busying herself at a recess on the other side of the twenty-foot space as Phia pressed her hand up onto the low ceiling. The sooner she got out of there, the better.

‘Turmeric,’ Tamara announced as she came back across the room with three sealed plastic bags, each the size of a standard paperback book. ‘I don’t need to tell you how valuable this is. This is the rarest spice there is now – at least here – thanks to the powers that be.’

‘How did you get it?’ Sophia asked, accepting the packets off her.

‘Most people owe someone something in this district. I held these as safekeeping for someone who lost a lot of people to obtain it. They never made it back to collect it. Once this has gone, I don’t think there’s any chance of getting any more. It was one of the first spices the authorities put a ban on being imported here. It obviously has some significance to a concoction for something.’

And she knew exactly what concoction – and that the authorities picking turmeric of all spices to put a ban on was no coincidence.

‘They know about things like that?’ Sophia asked.

‘You think The Facility is just used for medical experiments into healing research? You think when witches, lycans and vampires, let alone others, miraculously vanish from this district that it’s only those in-house who are responsible?’

She knew only too well. ‘Of course not.’

‘Whatever you want it for, use it wisely.’

Sophia nodded, before turning back towards the exit. ‘Thanks for your help,’ she called over her shoulder, the weight of the packets feeling good in her hands. ‘I won’t forget it.’

‘I won’t have to say anything to Kane,’ Tamara stated. ‘He’ll find out you’re here for himself – if you’re not discreet.’

She turned to face her again. ‘I’ve been discreet so far.’

‘He’s one of the good ones. I know you won’t appreciate me saying it, but he is. And we need him here in Blackthorn. You’d do well to leave him be.’

‘Depends what he does
if
he does find out about me, doesn’t it?’ she said, turning away again, not wanting the witch to see any glimmer of hesitation in her eyes.

Getting down on her knees, she crawled back through the gap, carefully cradling the packets against her chest.

‘There’s a lot I’d like to learn – spells, medicines, manipulations,’ Tamara called from behind her as she followed her back out into the lab. ‘I’d like you to come back. To impart your knowledge. To teach me. I’ve always dreamt of meeting one of you. Of learning what I can.’

For that, she was most definitely asking the wrong sister. But maybe it was time she did learn – not just about her serrynity, but the other innate skills it brought with it.

If she survived long enough.

‘Maybe,’ Sophia said.

‘Then make sure you do stay discreet,’ Tamara said. ‘Kane’s the least of your worries in this district.’

Sophia turned to face her again. ‘Meaning?’

‘Caleb Dehain’s here too. You must have heard of him. He runs the west side.’

‘I thought Kane was the ultimate bad boy in this district?’

‘Not when it comes to serryns.’ Her eyes narrowed in concern. ‘You do know about Caleb, don’t you?’

‘Know what exactly?’

‘I thought you all knew? Caleb’s the most prolific serryn hunter the Higher Order ever hired. If he casts his eyes on you, you’re not making it anywhere, let alone back here.’

Her pulse rate sped to a painful rate, making her light-headed as her face flushed before the blood plummeted from it, leaving her cold on the inside.

She turned away before Tamara saw it. Before Tamara sensed anything.

Sophia ploughed back through the door, ascended the steps, taking a sharp left back into the living room.

‘The exchange you promised,’ Tamara reminded her. ‘Unless you promise to return.’

‘I’ll return,’ she called back as she headed back along the hallway, back out the front door and up the steps.

The world blackened in on her as she crossed the street without looking, as she ploughed back into the darkness of the alley.