The Vaga Page 8

  He looks down and presses his hand against the stomach wound. ‘It’s just a scratch.’

  Pushing away the need to go back and stab the creature in the face for hurting him, I ask, ‘Did…did you want me to heal that?’ Thoughts of running my hand along the toned ridges of his stomach makes my toes curl.

  As if reading my mind he raises his eyebrows in surprise. ‘It’s alright. Thanks anyway.’

  I turn my face away before he can see the burning embers of embarrassment. ‘Okay, let’s go then.’ I take off at a jog.

  He runs along beside me, back past the campus and towards the cottage. I shake my head at the surreal feeling of jogging along beside him. This is too weird even for me. First he was my enemy and now he’s my running buddy, who only a short while ago was willing to risk his life for mine. Phoebe’s reaction would be going through the roof right now.

  We slow down as we near the cottage, and I stop and turn towards him, not quite knowing what to say.

  He saves me the effort. ‘I know you won’t like this… but you need to let me come in with you.’

  My mouth gapes open in shock. ‘Are you friggin serious? My uncle will kill you. Do you have a death wish?’

  He calmly searches my face, unperturbed by my outburst, and takes a step towards me. My whole body freezes. ‘You and I both know that whatever is happening involves all of us. I know this is a little scary, but we have to do this together. Our future depends on it.’

  His eyes burn a hole through me as he waits patiently for me to respond.

  How can I respond when one, he’s looking at me like that, and two, if I say yes, then he won’t even see a future when Uncle Jo gets ahold of him.

  He raises an eyebrow. ‘Well?’

  I find my breath and exhale. ‘You’re a dead man, you know that?’ I turn and cross the warding to the cottage, trying to downplay the feeling of dread that is swarming inside my stomach.

  I feel him grinning as he follows me, and even though in my heart I know he isn’t a threat anymore, I still wait to see if the warding rejects him or not.

  It doesn’t.

  As I make my way up the back stairs I remember what I went through in the last couple of hours and my stomach lurches. I was nearly killed in that museum by a creature that can’t have been from this world. And if it wasn’t for Julian…well surely that might sway Uncle Jo not to rip his head off?

  I expect Uncle Jo to rush out the back door and pull me into his arms, but the house is silent as I walk into the kitchen and my pulse quickens.

  ‘Uncle Jo? Magi?’ I yell out. The house is deathly still and a coldness fills my chest. If they’re not here then where are they?

  I send out a call to Magi and she sends me an image back. I shudder with relief as she lets me know they are heading back through the woodland towards the house. Then the relief quickly morphs into fear as I turn to see Julian watching me.

  ‘Uncle Jo and Magi are on their way,’ I say, ignoring the pounding of my heart.

  I take a seat at the kitchen table and reach down to rub my sore and now-red feet. He takes a seat across from me and sits ramrod straight, like he’s waiting for a command from a superior officer.

  ‘You can relax you know.’

  His lip twitches. ‘I am relaxed. This is how I sit.’

  A smile plays at my lips when I realise he’s probably nervous about Uncle Jo’s return. A faint muffled noise distracts me and I attune my hearing to the sound.

  ‘Aunt Lily!’ I jump up quickly and run to the linen cupboard, where I release the cellar door latch.

  As the door opens Aunt Lily rushes up to me. ‘Is everyone alright? Is anybody hur—’

  Her eyes widen as she looks over my shoulder at Julian.

  ‘Everyone is okay. Uncle Jo is on his way back now.’

  She doesn’t say a word. She can’t stop looking at him.

  Here we go. I square my shoulders. ‘Aunt Lily, this is Julian.’

  A few seconds pass before she wakes from her zombie stare. ‘Huh? Oh, well…’

  Julian thrusts out his hand towards her. ‘Nice to meet you, Mrs. Olsen.’

  She looks down at his hand slowly, a flicker of uncertainty skimming across her features.

  ‘It’s okay, Aunt Lily. He’s here to help us.’

  She takes his hand gently and he helps her out into the hallway before we head into the lounge room.

  ‘What happened, Ellie?’ she asks me, her eyes still wandering to Julian every few seconds.

  Julian has stayed back a little to give us some room. He is leaning against the bookcase and is trying to act relaxed, but his energy tells me that is far from the truth. His gaze falls on me and that warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach returns.

  ‘You better sit down.’

  The back screen door swings open loudly as Uncle Jo’s voice echoes through the house. ‘Ellie?’

  Holy crap sticks!

  ‘In here!’ It is amazing how quickly all three of us went from okay to absolutely terrified in about two seconds flat. The tension in the air electrifies.

  Magi and Uncle Jo walk into the lounge room, and as his eyes swiftly take in the scene he whips his rifle off his shoulder and brings it up, pointing it straight at Julian.

  Chapter 9

  ‘Who are you?’ he growls.

  I move forward quickly and place my hand on his arm. ‘Uncle Jo, he’s here to help us.’

  He cocks the gun loudly and takes a menacing step towards Julian. ‘I’ll only ask one more time. Who are you?’

  Julian’s face remains inscrutable and Aunt Lily does something really brave. She positions herself between the gun and Julian.

  ‘Josiah Olsen, you better put that gun down this instant.’

  His eyes fall on her in surprise.

  ‘You heard me, right now!’ Her usually serene face is etched in a stern frown, and if it was at any other time I’d think this scenario was comical.

  Uncle Jo slowly lowers the rifle, but he obviously isn’t happy about it. ‘Someone better tell me what’s going on this minute.’

  ‘If you stop acting like a man deranged then we will tell you,’ Aunt Lily says, still scowling at him.

  He uncocks the rifle slowly for effect and places it down on the sideboard. ‘Better?’

  She smiles. ‘Much better. Now have a seat.’ She gestures towards the lounge and grabs Julian’s arm, directing him to the other chair.

  I’m watching this scene with amusement, realising that Aunt Lily is actually sorting these guys out single-handedly. I remind myself to ask her what her secret is later as I position myself next to Uncle Jo.

  Magi remains sitting in the doorway, and I call her to me but she doesn’t move. ‘Mags, it’s okay, come here girl.’ I pat the cushion beside me.

  Her eyes fall to Julian before she turns and heads back outside. I make to go after her, but Uncle Jo grabs my arm. ‘Let her go, Ellie. We have more important things to talk about right now.’

  I reluctantly sit back down, a feeling of sadness washing over me, and I know it’s coming from Magi. What has her so upset?

  ‘I’ll get us some refreshments,’ Aunt Lily says and lifts her eyebrows in Uncle Jo’s direction, as if to say behave until I get back.

  Julian clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably under Uncle Jo’s scrutinising glare.

  I sigh, wanting to get this whole alpha play-off over and done with. ‘Uncle Jo, this is Julian. Julian, this is Uncle Jo.’

  Neither one of them move. They both just stare at each other across the lounge room, waiting for the other one to break contact first.

  And then Julian gets up enough courage to speak first. ‘Mr. Olsen, I know what you’re thinking, bu—’

  ‘You haven’t the first clue what I’m thinking, son. If you did you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.’ His voice holds a dangerous edge to it.

  Julian’s face drops.

  ‘Uncle Jo, please. You haven’t even heard what we’ve just been through.’<
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  He turns his face to me and his eyes lose their deadly lustre. ‘You’re right. At the very least I can hear you out.’ His shoulders relax and it seems he’s willing to let go of his need to kill Julian for now.

  Julian makes to speak, but Uncle Jo silences him with his hand. ‘I suggest you stay quiet, Bucko, if you want to exit this house alive. Let Ellie tell the story.’

  I’ve seen Julian in action and I know he could take Uncle Jo, but instead he shuts his mouth and glances in my direction, waiting for me to speak.

  His willingness to put up with Uncle Jo’s anger earns him some extra brownie points with me, and I smile lightly in his direction. His grey eyes deepen in colour and a burst of electricity travels between us.

  I swallow loudly as Aunt Lily places a tray of hot coffee onto the table and hands us each a mug.

  I then go about telling them everything.

  As always Uncle Jo is the first to respond. ‘So let me get this straight, because I want to make sure I heard you right. Are you saying that something drew you to the museum, your magic was blocked, a creature mimicked my voice and tried to kill you, this guy,’ he jerks his head in Julian’s direction, ‘saved you, and then another animal defended you so you could escape?’ His hazel eyes intensify. ‘Do I have that right?’

  ‘Yep.’

  Exhaling loudly he says, ‘Okay.’ He leans back into the lounge, his eyes focused on some distant spot over my head.

  ‘That’s it?’ I ask, surprised.

  ‘Well it’s all a little much to take in right now, Ellie,’ he responds.

  Aunt Lily then shocks all of us by saying, ‘Thank you, Julian, for protecting Ellie.’

  Julian raises his chin in surprise. He probably wasn’t expecting that. To be honest, neither was I. In fact I didn’t even thank him yet myself.

  Aunt Lily nudges Uncle Jo’s arm and he clears his throat. ‘Yes, thank you,’ he mutters begrudgingly.

  In that moment a shift occurs between Uncle Jo and Julian. They definitely won’t be giving each other hugs anytime soon, but for now there seems to be an unspoken truce.

  We all take a moment to gather our thoughts, and I realise that Uncle Jo still hasn’t told us what happened to him and Magi.

  ‘Do you think that creature lured you and Magi into the woods as a diversion?’ I ask.

  He looks in my direction. ‘Now that you mention it, I think it might have. I heard what sounded like a child’s cry, and Magi and I followed it to the edge of the woods. When we got there we were met with a deathly silence. We searched for the noise but found nothing. That’s when we headed back.’

  I look at Julian and give a slight nod, letting him know he was right.

  Aunt Lily says, ‘So, now what?’

  All eyes fall to me. ‘Uh…maybe we need to find out what exactly we’re dealing with here. I mean, what the hell was that thing?’ I look at Julian, hoping that he’ll enlighten us seeing as he seems to be the only one among us who has any knowledge on the Vaga.

  Something in Julian’s face shifts, moving from a nervous uninvited guest to a warrior briefing us on the enemy.

  Is it wrong to think it’s kinda hot? Probably, although Isis’ essence doesn’t think so. It’s trembling with excitement within me.

  Uncle Jo crosses his arms and waits for Julian to respond.

  Julian leans forward in his chair, his arms resting on his knees, the blood still lightly oozing from his wound. He should have let me heal that. ‘I assume Elena told you about the Vaga?’

  Uncle Jo nods. ‘The little she knew of them.’

  ‘Well then you know that what we’re dealing with here is unlike anything you’ve probably had to come up against before.’ His voice holds warning.

  ‘Well that would be a matter of opinion,’ Uncle Jo says.

  Aunt Lily rolls her eyes. ‘Please, Jo. Can we just hear Julian out?’

  I smirk as Uncle Jo grumbles something under his breath.

  Julian continues, his accent growing thicker as his emotions fuel the conversation. ‘The creature that attacked Elena could probably only be described as a minion—a creature loyal to the Vaga. At this point we can assume that it is under the command of Erebus.’

  What accent is that? Welsh perhaps? Focus, Ellie!

  Uncle Jo sits up straighter. ‘Erebus? Ellie mentioned him briefly, but I’ve never heard of him before. How do you know all this?’

  Julian shifts uncomfortably. ‘I have access to…some of this information.’

  He isn’t telling Uncle Jo about the fact that a Dominus is passing along certain little facts, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by me.

  Uncle Jo frowns and Aunt Lily interrupts. ‘I’m sorry, I understand you’re all used to this sort of lingo when talking about the supernatural world, but can you just slow it down for me please. Who is Erebus?’

  ‘Erebus is an Immortal, a powerful sorcerer of ancient times,’ Julian responds.

  ‘Immortal? You mean like a vampire?’ she asks.

  He shakes his head. ‘No, that term is too frequently confused with the Strix. An Immortal is more like a god. At least to our people. Erebus is known as a primordial deity, one of the first beings to exist.’

  Aunt Lily swallows the lump in her throat. ‘And this…this deity is after Ellie? Why?’

  Julian casts his eyes downwards. ‘We can’t be sure, but we think it’s because someone in our order refused to believe she was dead. It seems they may have hired the help of the Vaga to track her down in an attempt to confirm their suspicions.’

  Magi comes plodding back in, takes a look at Julian, and then walks over to sit by my feet. I rhythmically stoke her fur.

  Uncle Jo’s energy surges. ‘We?’

  ‘I’m not the only one concerned with Elena’s safety.’ Julian meets his glare. ‘Contrary to popular belief, we are not all evil.’

  Uncle Jo scowls. ‘Forgive me for thinking that you have her best interests at heart.’ Sarcasm oozes out of his words. ‘But it’s a little hard to forget that you tried to kill my niece.’

  The tension in the room electrifies.

  ‘This isn’t helping us,’ I say, throwing them both a look. ‘Right now we need to find a way to work together.’

  ‘She’s right, Jo. This isn’t helping us,’ Aunt Lily agrees.

  He puts his hands up and redirects the conversation. ‘And this creature at the museum, what did it look like?’

  Thinking about the way the creature stalked me and tried to lure me out causes me to shudder. ‘I don’t think it was of this world.’

  His frown deepens. ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘This thing was distorted, Uncle Jo. It looked like part hyena and part dog. And not a cute, fluffy one either. This thing has striped fur that glistened when it walked, a flat snout, and a huge mouth filled with sharp ridges of bone where there should have been teeth. And if that wasn’t enough, its creepy cloven hooves with claws was enough to tip me off that this thing wasn’t like any animal I’ve ever seen.’

  The image in my head of the creature reaches Magi and she whimpers, resting her head against me.

  ‘Cloven hooves?’ he asks.

  ‘One of the signs of evil,’ Julian says.

  The room is silent for a moment while that particular statement sinks in.

  ‘If I’m right, then this creature was of the ancient world. A legendary creature known as a Crocotta. Elena was right when she said it looked like a hyena. These creatures were rare and lived mostly out on the plains of Africa, stalking villages and luring out their prey by mimicking voices of people their victims knew.’ He turns to look at me briefly and concern flashes across his face. He clasps his hands together and I notice they’re shaking.

  As my magic reaches out to him I sense that his injury is causing him a lot of pain.

  ‘You need to let me heal that,’ I say, pointing to the wound.

  He lifts his arm to look at it and the blood spreads with his movement, causing him to wince. ‘It’s
fine, I’ll tend to it later,’ he says, giving me a small smile.

  ‘How do we kill it?’ Uncle Jo asks, ignoring Julian’s obvious discomfort.

  He shakes his head. ‘I have no idea.’

  Uncle Jo rises to his feet and starts pacing the room, hands thrust deep into his pockets. ‘And what about this other creature that interfered?’

  ‘You mean the other animal that saved us?’

  He nods.

  Remembering back it seems completely bizarre that in one morning I would encounter an ancient creature and a…what animal was that?

  ‘I didn’t really get a good look at it. At first I thought it was a dog but—’

  ‘It looked like a cougar,’ Julian responds.

  ‘A cougar? Are you sure?’ Aunt Lily asks.

  He nods his head. ‘I got a pretty good look at it.’

  ‘Why the hell would there be a cougar in a museum?’ Uncle Jo asks more to himself. ‘This all seems far-fetched, even for our family.’

  ‘Seriously? This is far-fetched? You do remember the events of four years ago don’t you?’ I ask, throwing him a sarcastic look.

  He turns, and instead of the normal comeback that he would throw at me a dark shadow falls across his features.

  He shoots a stern look at Julian. ‘Yes, I do.’

  Julian stands up, and the movement causes him more pain.

  Uncle Jo casts him an annoyed glance. ‘You need to let her heal the wound, Julian. You’re no use to her if you’re hurt.’

  As if in unison, all three of us turn to look at him. A satisfied smile appears on Aunt Lily’s face. He called him Julian. A glimmer of hope spreads through me.

  ‘Take him into the bathroom, Ellie. We could all use a bit of air,’ he says striding into the kitchen.

  I motion for Julian to follow me down to the bathroom.

  ‘Just sit there,’ I say pointing to the toilet.

  He does as he’s told and sits down slowly.

  Kneeling down before him, I avoid his gaze. ‘Lift up your shirt.’

  A sharp breath escapes me as I look upon the deep wound underneath his ribcage.

  I grimace. ‘Why didn’t you let me heal that before? It looks painful.’