Iron Crowned Chapter 7

I signed the tax return and odd a check before heading egress. It figured I owed. freelance(a) mickle always owe. It was a credit to Lara that shed managed my books well plentiful that the nitty-gritty was low, further after waiting her dispose take away with my roommate, I pertinacious it was a practiced thing our working relationship didnt include deed reviews.Shed also left me a jam-packed day, which move start to be beneficial. A busy schedule kept my mind rancid Dorian ( roughlyly) and what was flow in the Otherworld. I fought with ferocity, as though each ghost or monster I battled was Katrice herself. It was the jabbings in between that were the roughest on me. at that place was no action hence. erect my own thoughts.My last job of the day was the most difficult, undoubtedly scheduled that way on purpose so that I didnt walk into the slight ones tired and injured. True, I was feeling weary, but worry for Dorian kept a spike of adrenaline burning done me , one that I knew would go me through this last job. Yet, walking up to the clients household, I couldnt chit asking the same questions in my mind. Why hasnt Volusian inform to me yet? Isnt the fight everywhere?A nervous- get winding young woman manageed the verge, introducing herself as Jenna. She was the one who had make the c alto educateher, though it wasnt but on her own behalf.Shes in the living room, Jenna whispered to me, permit me inside the foyer. Her look were wide with fear. Just sitting at that place. Staring.Does she speak? I asked. Does she answer your questions?Yes but its not her. I do that doesnt represent sense, but its not. The people at work opine shes honourable gone crazy. Im pretty much the whole one who whitewash talks to her. Shes near to lose her job, but Jenna s hook her head. I swear, its just not her.Youre in good order. I held my wand in my left hand and my silvery athame in the right.Is she Jennas voice dropped even lower. Is s he possessed? non exactly. Lara had warned me ab out this one. It had initially sounded desire possession, but further data suggested former(a)wise, unfortunately. A possession would welcome been easier. Its a conduct. Its like I dont know. Her double. Kind of.Then what happened to Regan?I hesitated. I dont know. I didnt necessity to tell Jenna there was a strong fortuity that Regan was dead. That was the usual fate for a commences victim. Of course, be keepes usually left once theyd sucked all the energy and goodness from just aboutones life. If this one was still here, the odds of Regan still macrocosm alive were marginally higher. If er, when we find her, she may be in pitiful shape.I stared sullen dispirited the hallway, where I could hear the sound of a TV in the living room. I shifted my grip on my weapons and prompt myself.What should I do? asked Jenna.Wait outside. Dont come dorsum inside until I tell you to no matter what.Once she was safely away, I piec e off down the hall. There, in the living room, I found a woman sitting perfectly straight on the couch, her hands folded neatly upon her lap as she stared at the TV. There was a blankness in her chocolate-brown look that told me she wasnt originally watching. She didnt even acknowledge my arrival. Glancing around the living room, I similarlyk in its space and features, assessing them for a fight. I also noticed a couple pictures on the paries, group shots with Jenna and a smiling brunette who looked exactly like the woman on the couch. Yet, glancing between them, I knew Jenna was right. This wasnt Regan.Wheres Regan? I asked.The play didnt look at me. I am Regan.Wheres Regan? I repeated harshly. What hurt you done with her? Please, please let her be alive.This eon, the take turned her head, those moth-eaten eyes taking me and my weapons in. I told you. I am Regan.I had a moments debate on what to do. Killing the fetch without learning Regans location would use up the next part of this job even much difficult. Yet, as the fetch continued staring at me, I knew shed recognized what I was and what flagellum I represented. I had to take her out now, banking on the fact that fetches usually kept their victims close.I held out my wand and began chanting the words that would drive this creature underpinside to the Otherworld. It was where fetches came from, and a forceful enough banishing was usually enough to deter them from returning. Id wholly shake to substantiate the Underworld involved if she inflexible to She attacked.The fetch didnt transform into her true shape as she sprang at me. Rather, she turned into something in the middle. She still wore Regans scene, but it had a sickly jet plane hue. Her eyes were bigger and darker and looked like theyd been stretched out. Her hands and feet were bigger too and clawed.She came at me with her beat strength, knocking me into a wall mercifully free of furniture. I kneed her in the stomach, needing to get distance between me and the claws attempt to rake my scene and neck. She savage back a infinitesimal, not much, but enough to give me more maneuvering room. I swung out with the silver blade, and she recoiled. Iron could inflict lethal blows on the gentry, but silver was the metal of choice for almost all other creature.Tell me where Regan is, I state, advancing forward. Tell me, and Ill simply banish you back to the Otherworld. Make this difficult, and you die. I was managing that balance I always did weapon wee-wee to attack while part of my mind focuse on a connection to the Otherworld. Hecates tattoo, a snake on my top(prenominal) arm, began to tingle.The fetch refractory I wasnt a full threat yet and rushed me again. I dodged this fourth dimension, anticipating her movements based on the last attack. A fetch might be able to replicate someone, but their fighting style was loosely animate being force. My athame caught her arm as I moved, and she snarled in pa in, showing fangs that dripped with green saliva. It hurt her but didnt slow her down as she lunged back at me. I sidestepped her again but everyplacelooked what was behind me, hitting sorely against a cabinet.I winced, and she pressed her advantage, swinging those claws at me. I except escaped them, managing to squirm away and hurry to the other side of the room. A banishing, I decided. Id just keep my distance and do a banishing. I just needed a couple minutes and to confirmation alive. I began chanting words to send her from this world, words that didnt have to follow some(prenominal) ancient form so long as my violence and jailed were clear. She paused briefly, realizing what I was doing, and seemed to consider her options.A circle. I should have put a circle of protection around the house. There was a very real possibility she might try to flee. That and killing me were pretty much her only if options. The former would probably be easier for her and would release Rega n. provided I didnt want this fetch freely walking the world. I needed to send her on. causation surged in me and through me, out to the wand and toward her. This was her last chance to run or, as it turned out, throw a coffee table at me.I admit, I didnt see that coming literally or figuratively. I should have, though. Furniture, props, whatever they were all fair game in a fight. The fetch had no reason to rely simply on hand-to-hand combat, and my athame gave her good reason to attack from a distance. The coffee table was a plain one, a smooth circle of glass on iron legs. A wood-framed one would have been better. The frame would have slowed the spread of glass. This table had aught to stop it, except me. I try to jump out of its way, delivery my head and locution. I wasnt far enough away when it hit the wall and shattered, though. Stinging, burning pain went through my back and left arm as glass scraped and no doubt embedded itself in my flesh.My sense of self-preser vation kept me moving through the pain, but my connection to the Otherworld had shattered with the glass. The fetch knew this and leaped forward, risking the athame in the hope I was too addled and injured from the glass to stop her.I wasnt. I had never let go of my weapons, and my athame was ready and delay when she came. I plunged it into her heart and started the banishing again. Over the years, as Id grown in power and spent so much clipping in the Otherworld myself, these banishings had become easier. Not easy, but easier. There was a time when I couldnt have held a fetch off with my athame while simultaneously attempting a quick banishing. more everywhere now, the power flowed through me as the fetch pulled herself off my blade. She had no time to react, attack, or flee. The magical seized her, and she disappeared before my eyes, fading into sparkles and then nothing. I didnt know the extent of the athames damage. I might have just sent her back to die. Or, she might surviv e and come after me in the Otherworld as some creatures tried. I wasnt worried. My abilities stayed consistent in twain worlds, but my magic was a bit stronger over there especially in the Thorn Land.I took a deep breath of relief and stuck the weapons back in my crash as I hurried toward the front door. Jenna was sitting on the lawn, face pale with worry. She sprang up when she saw me.What happened? Is she okay?Im not sure, I said, wiping egest off my brow. My hand came away red with blood. We have to find her. Does she have a basement?No. Jenna followed me inside and then halted. Oh my God your back Its nothing. Ill deal with it later.At least She reached toward a spot between my upper arm and shoulder blade, wincing as she did. I yelped in pain and watched as she pulled away a huge piece of jagged glass. Thats bleeding sincerely bad Im in better shape than Regan, I said brusquely, trying to ignore both pain and the sight of my blood all over the shard shed taken. No base ment. Closets? Attic?Both.We checked the closets with no luck, and Jenna stuck her head in the attics tiny space. Still nothing.Shit, I said. I shouldnt have let the fetch go without getting Regans location. What if Regan wasnt nearby? What if the fetch had broken habit and hugger-mugger her victim far from house?Jenna looked as defeated as I felt, then her head shot up. The shed. Theres a shed out back.We were out the back door in a flash, jerking open the door to a little garden shed that was mercifully unlocked. There, curled up on the ground in a fetal position, was Regan. Jenna let out a strangled cry, and we both dropped to the ground. Jenna propped Regan up while I quietly shook her.Regan, Regan. Wake up. Please wake up.For a few moments, I feared the worst. Then, Regans eyes fluttered open, her expression frightened and confused. Her breathing came in short rasps, and she futilely tried to sit up on her own. Her failure didnt surprise me. When a fetch took over someones l ife, it put its double into a sort of magic coma. It required no ropes or gags, simply leaving behind a silent and immobile victim. Regans ability to wake up verified that the fetch was gone, but the woman had spent days without food, water, or using her muscles.Shes dehydrated, I said. Studying Regans state, I knew this was beyond a few supply of water. Lets get her to the hospital.Jenna drove, with Regan laid out carry onfully across the backseat. She said little, only do the occasional moan. Meanwhile, in the passenger seat, I attempted to clean myself off with baby wipes and to pull glass bits out of my back. The blood on my face was cleaned off when we reached the ER, as was most from my body, but I didnt want to answer questions about what had happened to me. I borrowed Jennas jean jacket, figuring the few scratches on my face werent enough to attract attention.We told the staff that Regan had been depressed and starving herself. We went on about how we hadnt seen her for d ays and had only just found her to darkness. Since there was no ostensible bruising or signs of binding, they took us at our word and hurried to hook her up to fluids. Wed also probably landed her in therapy, but that was of little concern now.I waited with Jenna just outside Regans room as a care for finished attaching the appropriate tubes and a doctor performed further examination. When they were done, they told us we could go in and that Regan would recover once her body had sustenance again. I had no intention of going with Jenna. Now that Regan was safe, my plan was to get a taxi back to my car and go home to clean up before an Otherworldly jump. Lara could business relationship these women later.Wait, said Jenna, as the doctor and nurse were about to leave. My friends hurt. She broke a window to get in Regans house and got cut.I shook my head. No, really, Im fine I shut my mouth when I followed everyones gaze. Even I could see that the left sleeve of the jacket was pucki sh with blood. There was little argument to make after that. Jenna stayed with Regan, and I was ushered off to a cubicle in the ER. The nurse shut the curtain, and I took off my shirt. The doctors eyebrows rose.You broke a window? With what, your entire body? He called for other nurse, who began assisting the other with glass removal and sanitizing.I threw a rock, I said. It didnt make a very big hole, but I didnt have time to make it bigger. I just had to get to Regan.Noble, said the doctor, whose attention was on the larger shoulder gash. If stupid. Someone with a better understanding of physical science might have realized my injuries didnt quite line up with what Id get crawling through a jagged hole in a window. Fortunately, this groups talents were elsewhere. The myriad scratches and cuts were dealt with by bandages and painful antiseptics. The big cut required a fair number of stitches.I was stand-inless the whole time, wanting only to get back and see what had happened to Dorian. The medical staff was thorough in its work, however. I decided I should just be glad that they were letting me go and not forcing a longer stay. I was the walking wounded, in bad shape but not in life-threatening danger.Here, said the doctor, just before letting me go. He scrawled out a prescription drug and handed it to me, along with reams of paper on wound care and cleaning. Antibiotics. sterilise it filled tonight.I will, I said glibly.He gave me a warn look. I mean it. I know your type. You think youre invincible, but any of that could get infected. Get the prescription. Clean and change the bandages on the cuts.He was right that I thought I was invincible. Id had stitches and wounds before, my gentry blood usually expediting the healing. But I nodded meekly, promising Id obey.Good, he said, following me out to the waiting room. deliver the goods up with your family doctor in a week. I think your rides over there.My ride ?I stared around the room, freezing when I s aw a familiar face. Mom?Shed been leaning against a wall, eyes anxiously examine everyone in the room. Spotting me, she practically ran over, staring at my bandages in alarm. I had no coat, and the tank top showed my battle wounds. Eugenie Are you okay? What have you done now?For some reason, that made the doctor snort a laugh before walking away. Im fine, I told her automatically. What are you doing here?Im your extremity contact. And that is not fine.I was still stunned to see her. It felt like it had been so long. Ages. It is now, I said dazedly. All patched up. And Ive got all this stuff. I waved my stack of paper around.She brushed dark hair from her face, her expression both weary and distraught as we headed for her car. It never gets easier. Not with you, not with him.I gave her a sidelong look. Does he know youre here?No, she said, getting out her keys. Not that it would matter if he did. Nothing could have stopped me from coming when they called me. I thought Well, I ne ver know what to think.I couldnt look at her as I sat gingerly in the car. My eyes were filling with tears. Id missed her so much. Id missed her, well, momness. Lots of people cared about me, but it wasnt the same. Plus, I felt horrible, horrible that I made her worry. And because of me, Roland was out endangering himself again too.I hastily ran a hand over my eyes and turned to her as we pulled out of the parking lot. When did you get glasses? I asked in surprise. Delicate wire frames rested on a face very similar to mine. It was our coloring that was different. My red hair and empurpled eyes had come from Storm King.A few weeks ago. Theyre just for night impetuous.I looked away, fearing the tears would return. Glasses. Such a stupid thing. There was a time, though, when I would have known every little detail of her life. There was so much distance between us now. My churning, guilty thoughts only came to a standstill when she turned into a pharmacy a few blocks from the hospital .Mom, no I have to get back to my car and You so-and-so go back to endangering your life again soon enough. Here, let me see those.Its not my usual pharmacy, I said petulantly.She was skimming the wound care instructions. Yes, well, Im sure this one still has a couple bandages stashed away somewhere.Youre much(prenominal) a mom.She glanced up, a teensy-weensy twinkle in her eyes that reminded me of how things used to be between us. Im your mom.I followed her sullenly as we waited for the prescription, and she forced me to get a basketful of gauze, bandages, and other first aid supplies. I already owned a lot of them, but she wouldnt rest easy until she truly saw them in my hands.I really appreciate you coming, I admitted as we waited. It its good to see you.Her expression softened. Its good to see you too, baby. Ive missed you.I dont suppose Rolands forgiven me?Its more complicated than that, she told me. He still loves you. Really. But hes worried. And he doesnt like you bein g over there. Neither do I.I averted my eyes again. I knew she didnt and she had good reason. My conception was the result of her captivity and rape in the Otherworld. Shed spent years keeping that knowledge from me, hoping to protect me from both my inheritance and the agony she believed that place caused.Well, thats complicated too. I have to be there, Mom. I know you khats dont approve, but there are people counting on me. Theyre not all like you think. I cant let them down. Theyre theyre dying because of me.Is there a man involved?I considered a flippant remark, then chose honesty. Yes.The obvious problem aside would I like him?I tried to picture my mom meeting Dorian and couldnt stop a small smile. Probably not.Do you ever talk to Kiyo anymore?I looked up sharply, my smile fading. Its over with us. He let me down. You know that. This other guy he wont.I was saved from further conversation when my name was finally called. I added the prescription to my portable hospital b ag and felt grateful that my mom didnt pursue the topic of my love life anymore. I was equally grateful when she drove me back to Regans house. It wouldnt have surprised me if shed left me carless in Tims care.Leaving my mom stirred conflicting feelings in me. After missing her so much, part of me just wanted to stay and gaze at her, to drink in those features I loved so much. I wanted her to hold me, to be my mom and take care of everything. And yet always, always, the Otherworld was jam on me. I didnt have the luxury of being a little girl right now. I didnt have the luxury of being her daughter. give thanks you, I said, giving her as careful a hug as we could manage. Thank you for I dont know. Everything.She held me for a few moments and then pressed a kiss to my forehead. Theres nothing to thank me for. Just be careful. She broke from the embrace. Do what the doctor says. And for Gods sake, dont end up there again. I dont want another(prenominal) call.Ill try, I said. This made us both smile, largely because we knew my trying to stay out of harms way was pretty futile. And tell Roland I couldnt finish, but she nodded.I know.I left her then, loading my loot into my own car and driving home. Regan didnt live too far from me, only about ten minutes. The time flew by. I had so many things to think about that when I arrived at my house, I hardly knew how Id gotten there. Tims car was parked out front as was Laras. I dragged myself out of my own self-pitying miasma, uneasily wondering what Id find inside. sightedness the two of them naked on my kitchen table would not be cool.Instead, they were cuddled up on the living room couch, watching a movie. All seemed innocent, but some vibe made me suspect they hadnt been actually watching too much of it. I shook my head in exasperation.How is this my life? I muttered, setting my bag on the counter.Did you say something? called Tim. The living room and kitchen were mostly open to each other. He muted the film.N othing important.We figured youd be out for the night, he said. I was pretty sure there was an accusative tone in his voice.I opened the cupboards, rummaging for food. I was suddenly starving. Well, rest easy. Ill be gone soon enough, right after I get dinner.Lara turned and peered over the couchs back. Pop-Tarts arent oh my God What happened to you? Tim noticed my bandages now too. He didnt look as shocked as her he saw me come home after fights a lot but worry had replaced his snark.What have you been doing?Earning the mortgage. I put two blueberry Pop-Tarts in the toaster. Isnt that what you told me to do?Jesus, Eug. I didnt get out it, I told him. Everythings fine. But youre going to have to send a bill to Jenna Benson, Lara. I wasnt able to collect.Lara nodded without a word, still aghast at perceive what my real life looked like. I poured some water and choked down one of the antibiotics while waiting for the Pop-Tarts. As soon as they were done, I retreated to my room, eating quickly as I threw together an long bag. While I was packing, my eyes lingered on a half-finished puzzle on my desk. I sighed. How long ago had I started that one? A month ago? I loved jigsaw puzzles. I used to do one a night.I was almost finished packing I even included the first aid supplies, thanks to some ease mom-guilt when the temperature dropped. An unsettling yet familiar presence filled the room, and soon Volusian appeared before me. I nearly dropped the bag.Mistress, he said with a mock bow. Ive come to get over on the battle.