Fate Of The Minotaur (Her Dragon's Bane 5) (3 page)

“I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

She lowered her head and looked at the ground. “I am very grateful. I don’t know what this vampire wants. I would think that they would be more interested in Tara than me.”

“But Tara belongs to the dragons, so they would have to break the truce to take her.”

“Belongs to them? Like a slave?”

“No.” He laughed and then said, “It would take more than a dragon to enslave Tara.”

“She is very strong-willed. Whereas I am weak.”

“There is nothing wrong with you.” He faltered, that had not come out right at all. “Tara is very abrasive.”

“You are very polite. So, Fin, where do you live?”

“I am staying with Charlotte and Zoah for a few weeks.”

“So you don’t live in Spellholm? Are you on vacation?”

“I suppose so,” he said, thinking of how many people filled his home island of Crete in the summer months. “Yes. A vacation. Although I haven’t made up my mind as to how long I’ll stay.”

“Where is your home?”

The labyrinth
. He wanted to be honest with her, to tell her who he really was, because to be untruthful to her was the hardest thing he had ever done. The innocence in her eyes made him want to kneel before her and bare his soul. Thankfully, they reached her cottage before he’d told her every awful detail about himself.

She hesitated, her hand trembling as she reached to open the cottage door. This, the place that had become her sanctuary for the last couple of years, no longer felt safe. What if there was someone waiting for her inside? A vampire? Did they even come out in the daytime? She needed more knowledge than she actually had.

“Tomorrow, can we go back to speak to Tara?”

He huffed, obviously not wanting to spend any more time than he had to in the Dragon Stronghold. “I will escort you.”

“Thank you. It’s only, I don’t know much about the creatures of the forest. Not really. I know some of them can change from men to beasts, but apart from that and the witches, I don’t know anything. I should have known that there were vampires in Hollowton.”

“I see. Then, in that case, it would be my pleasure to escort you.”

“Thank you, Fin. Now, can I get you something to eat?”

“No. I won’t bother you; I will sit outside and keep watch.”

“But you must be hungry.”

“I can go without food for days.”

She frowned, her eyes raking over his incredibly masculine, well-muscled body. It didn’t have an inch of fat on it. Yet surely, he had to eat a lot of food to maintain all of those muscles. Sybil tried a different tack. “Fin, I don’t get company very often. I would really like you to share a meal with me. My way of saying thank you.”

He frowned, and she could tell he was thinking of how he could extricate himself from her invitation without offending her. Maybe she should just accept that he didn’t like her, that he was watching her from some sense of duty, rather than because he liked her. She scoffed at that thought. Of course he didn’t like her, at least not in the way she would have liked him to like her. There was nothing appealing about a green-eyed woman who saw bad things happen in her head.

“Please,” she said, knowing she sounded desperate. “It is the only way I can repay your kindness.”

Still he was silent, looking past her into the little cottage and then back to the small veranda outside the back door. “I will be fine. You go inside and forget I am here.”

“Fin, if I can’t at least feed you, I feel that I don’t deserve your protection. I don’t know you; you don’t know me. I would really like you to eat dinner with me at my table.”

He understood what she was hinting at. She was glad she didn’t have to spell it out, or carry out her threat. Because she really did want him to be there when darkness fell.

“I will eat with you,” he said, not sounding too happy about it.

“Perfect,” she said, going inside and leaving the door open in case she needed him. Or in case he wanted to follow her inside, but of course, he didn’t. Instead, she heard the creaking of the bench on her veranda, as it threatened to collapse under his weight.

Feeling more confident, she went from room to room, checking that everything was as it should be. Nothing was out of place in the small cottage. Satisfied, she went back to the kitchen and looked rather forlornly at the contents of her cupboards. She didn’t eat meat, so there was no way she could cook him the big slab of meat she could imagine he would feast on by choice. Instead, she settled for a vegetable lasagne, freshly baked bread and a lovely treacly sponge for desert; she would make custard to go with it. That way, he would at least be filled up. It would make her feel better because she was sure he would insist on sleeping outside, and she didn’t want him to be hungry and cold.

While the meal cooked, she went to her bedroom and gathered all the spare bedding she could find. They could make him a makeshift bed on the veranda. How many nights he would be staying here, she had no idea. This thought strengthened her resolve to go to Tara the next day and find out everything she could about these vampires. There was no way she could allow Fin to live indefinitely on her veranda, so the sooner this was all cleared up the better.

Sybil felt braver, now she was at home with Fin outside. Yet she knew that no matter what vampires were like in real life, they were not going to be friendly. Friendly people did not send gargoyles to kidnap defenceless women.

That led her to another thought. She had to learn how to stop being defenceless.

Taking the blankets outside, she found Fin staring out into the forest that surrounded her cottage. She had always liked the way she was ensconced in the trees; now she worried about what could be lurking behind the trees and bushes.

“Fin,” she said. “I have one more favour to ask you.”

He turned and looked at her. For a moment she saw something flicker across his face that she had never seen in any other human being before. At least not when they looked at her.

“If I can oblige, then I will,” he said, briefly capturing her gaze before lowering it.

“Can you teach me how to fight?”

He sat still, not saying a word, but now his eyes did meet hers, as though trying to read her mind. She held his gaze, making sure he knew she was strong enough to do what was necessary to protect herself. He wasn’t convinced.

“If I teach you, there is a chance you will end up being hurt even more.”

“I don’t think that is possible.”

“I am worried that if I teach you to fight, you will take on your foe when the safest thing would be for you to run.”

“Tell me, Fin. If you had not been there this morning, then those gargoyles would have carried me off. Am I right?”

“Yes. Most probably.”

“So my only defence would to stand up for myself and fight. I am not expecting you to be here for me all the time. We have no idea when the next attack might be.”

“I will stay here for as long as you need me.”

That made her feel happy, but she did not want that to deter her. She needed to be able to look after herself. “Just some simple moves. To defend myself from an attack.”

“Defensive moves. Very well,” he agreed grudgingly.

She smiled, and he almost smiled too, but then remembered himself and was serious again. Knowing she had made him do something he thought he would regret, she did the one thing that she perhaps shouldn’t have, to thank him. Kissed his cheek.

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he froze to the spot. Sybil dropped back down from her tiptoes and took a step back. His eyes flittered across her face. And she was drawn to him once more. Moving close to him, she reached out and stroked his cheek; he closed his eyes as if absorbing every sensation and transferring it to memory.

“Please don’t be shy around me, Fin.”

“I’m afraid I will scare you.”

“Why?”

“Because I am different.”

She laughed. “Do I scare you?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s good, because I am different too. I am probably scarier to most people than you will ever be. When you can predict a plane falling out of the sky, that tends to terrify people. When I was growing up the other kids used to think I didn’t so much predict things as make them happen. It’s not easy keeping friends when they are convinced that if they upset you, you will make their car explode.”

“That really happened?”

“Yes. It’s why I keep it a secret.”

“But someone knows your secret now.”

“Yes. It seems I can no longer live here hidden away, whether I want to or not.”

“I have hidden away my whole life,” he blurted out. “It is a lonely thing to do.”

She smiled. “I knew we would understand each other. We are so alike, Fin. Now, will you come in for dinner?”

He got up and followed her inside the cottage. At first he was nervous and only managed to shuffle inside the door, which he left open. Then, gradually, she hoped it was because he smelt her cooking and wanted to eat, he came and sat down at the kitchen table.

Sybil busied herself in the little kitchen, hoping he didn’t mind when she brushed past him in the confined space. Within half an hour, they were sitting eating, and she realised that Fin was the first person she had ever entertained in the cottage. And it already felt so natural to have him here.

His eyes kept drifting up to her gentle face; the more he looked at her, the more he swore he would protect her whatever the cost. It almost felt as if he was on a crusade. To save Sybil from the vampire who hunted her. Yet, he had no idea how to fight a vampire; it would be best if they both went to the Dragon Stronghold tomorrow and found out how they were going to survive this.

“This is delicious,” he said, taking a large mouthful of the food she had set in front of him.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked to eat. And since I don’t eat meat, I thought this lasagne would be best.”

He had to pause before asking her his next question, so that he could empty his mouth. Fin was trying very hard to remember his manners. “Why don’t you eat meat?”

She blushed and looked down at her plate. “I just hate the thought of something dying so that I can live. I grow most of my own vegetables, and the cottage has a small orchard. I’m very lucky to live here. The owner was looking for someone to look after it. I thought it would be for a few months, but it’s turned into a couple of years already. I take in some sewing to earn the extra money I need. But I’m quite self-sufficient.”

“Have you always lived in Spellholm?” He wanted to know everything about her.

“No. I grew up in a big city. I lived with my mom until I was old enough to leave home.”

“Didn’t you get on with her?”

“Yes. Most of the time. But when I had a vision, I would act weird, and if they were at night, I would scream and wake her. I never told her they were visions; I learned to keep them to myself. Still, I’m sure she suspected. Eventually she met a new man and he moved in. I didn’t like him very much, and he didn’t like me. So I left as soon as I could.”

“And came here?”

“Yes. Although it took a while to find the place. It was the only time I have ever had a vision that was about me. But it was just images. Very tricky to decipher.”

“Are you happy here?”

“I guess.” She paused and ate some food, but then she said, “I get lonely. I don’t know how to fit in. All my life I have tried to be invisible, and I don’t know how to be any other way.”

He laughed, a bitter sound. “I know what you mean. I have spent the last cen… few years trying to stay out of sight.”

“And now you are here.”

“Because when Serena and Charlotte came to me, I realised that I don’t have to be the person I thought I was.”

“So you are reinventing yourself too?”

“Yes. In some ways I am. But it takes time to see yourself differently. You can change your looks, you can change your clothes and other people will see the new person. But it takes more than that to change how you perceive yourself.”

She reached across the table and touched his hand lightly with hers. “I’m glad to finally meet someone who understands me, Fin. I really am.”

He stared at his hand, watching her fingers stroke his. No one had ever touched him with such tenderness, not even his own mother. Lifting his thumb, he stroked her skin, letting these new sensations cover him. Maybe they could reinvent themselves together. Yet he could not allow her to love him without telling her the truth about his past. And he wasn’t brave enough to do that. Not yet.

“You are more than welcome to sleep inside the house, Fin.”

“I will be comfortable here,” he said, laying the blankets out on the floor. Looking up and seeing her troubled expression, he added, “But thank you for the invitation. Since I came here, I have trouble sleeping inside a house. I find it a little claustrophobic.”

“Where did you live before?”

He hesitated. “I come from a warmer climate, and I like to sleep with the open air on my face.”

“You might change your mind in the winter. We can get deep snow here in Spellholm.”

“I look forward to it,” he said, but Sybil didn’t think he meant it.

“Good night, Fin.”

“Good night, Sybil.”

She went inside and shut the door, unable to bring herself to lock it in case he needed to come inside for any reason. As she shut the door to, she had taken one last look at the big, handsome man lying on her veranda.
What a difference a day makes
, she thought. Only this morning she was waking up to another lonely day in paradise. Yet in just a few short hours, she had met more people than she had in the whole of the time she had been in Spellholm. And gained a protector.

As she turned and climbed the stairs she thought how strange life was. And a chill passed through her. It was a feeling she had felt once before: change was coming. Pieces were moving as if on a chessboard. The feelings troubled her and when she entered her bedroom, she took her time getting ready for bed. Then she simply sat and looked out of the window, watching the stars as they moved silently overhead. Sighing, she slowly climbed into bed, trying to get comfortable. Yet the pillows were not right under her head, and she knew she would struggle to sleep.