Free Corrigan Rage by Helen Harper Page B

me a look of mock outrage. His hand rose to his heart as if he were mortally wounded that I’d accused him. A second later, when he apparently realised that wasn’t going to wash with me, he dropped all semblance of pretense. ‘Ask your girlfriend,’ he spat. ‘Somehow she seems to know.’ He began stalking back off to the house.
    Mack ducked out from behind me. ‘Hey! That was Tryyl, wasn’t it? You didn’t kill him, you just tortured him and then let him go. No wonder he’s pissed.’
    The vampire spun round. ‘Idiot. You can’t kill wraiths, they’re already dead,’ he sneered. ‘And what do you know about it anyway, little girl?’ His eyes found the Arch-Mage, rage spluttering forth from amongst their blood red depths. ‘All contracts are meant to be confidential.’
    The Arch-Mage coughed weakly. ‘Not all mages work alone, Aubrey, you know that.’
    ‘Yes, but since when did the wizards work with the beasts?’
    I stiffened. Beasts? As far as I was concerned there was only one damn beast around here.
    Aubrey thrust a finger in Mack’s direction. ‘There’s more to you than meets the eye, and I’m going to find out what it is.’ He turned again, stomping back towards the house.
    ‘Yeah,’ Mack shouted back. ‘And what about the Palladium? Obviously there’s more to that than meets the eye too!’
    Her only answer was the loud thud of the vampires’ door as it slammed shut. I watched her carefully. It was disturbing to think I wasn’t the only one determined to discover the truth about her. She simply sighed loudly, however, her gaze fixing on a dark patch up ahead, exactly where the wraith – Tryyl apparently – had been hovering. She walked over.
    I joined her, kneeling down and tentatively touching it. My fingers brushed against something sticky, like sap from a tree. I raised my fingers and sniffed. The stench was unbelievable. ‘Fucking hell! What is that?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Mack said, shaking her head. ‘It’s the vamps’ problem now. They created this situation in the first place anyway.’
    I didn’t enjoy being left out of the loop. Clearly the Arch-Mage knew what was going on, as did Aubrey. ‘How?’ I asked, gritting my teeth.
    Gaining silent permission from the Arch-Mage to speak, Mack took a deep breath. ‘The bloodsuckers signed a contract with the Ministry, hiring them to find an object. A wooden sculpture of Athena called the Palladium. It used to belong to the vamps but the wraith you just met, Tryyl, broke in and stole it.’
    I frowned. ‘When exactly did this happen?’
    ‘Years and years ago. I’m guessing long before you were a twinkle in your furry father’s eye.’ She gave me a slight grin to indicate she meant no offence. I matched it. ‘Anyway, one of the vamps recently decided they wanted it back so the mages tracked it down to an abandoned cottage, retrieved it and gave it to them. Tryyl was supposed to be dead.’
    ‘I guess he’s not,’ I said drily. I eyed her. There was more to this than she was saying.
    ‘No,’ she agreed. ‘I guess not. He must want the Palladium. Goodness knows why. It doesn’t do anything. The vampires have it inside that house. So it’s really nothing to do with us.’
    She wasn’t lying exactly. But she wasn’t telling me everything. She still hadn’t made it clear why she’d been so keen to come along as my’date’. I was betting it had something to do with this bloody Palladium thing. With the Arch-Mage’s canny eyes following our little exchange, I didn’t want to inquire further right now though.
    Mack ran a hand over her head and glanced at the mage lord. ‘Have I missed anything out? Did I get all the details?’
    ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Although Aubrey is right that all contracts are confidential. I assume that it was Mage Floride who told you about it. I will have words with him.’
    A tight ball of anger formed in my stomach. Floride again. Just what was going on between the pair of