Rag & Bones: Allies

By Juliet Boyd

Sometimes, the line between enemy and friend can become blurred

When a pack of vampires arrive in Midbury, at a time when defences are not at full strength, Carrie and Jean find they need to work together to try to solve the problem. Can vampire and slayer manage to get over their differences? With Ellie, Rag and Bones out of the picture, they have no choice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliet Boyd
• Release date: Jul 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310036538

Juliet Boyd

Juliet lives in Somerset in the south-west of England. She used to work in administration, but now writes full-time. Her main writing interests are fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, horror and flash fiction. Details of her work are available on her website.

Book preview

Chapter 1

FLYNN STARED out of Ellie’s bedroom window. A cool summer breeze washed over her face, drying the sweat on her skin. She helped the process with a swipe of the back of her hand across her forehead, which she then dragged down the side of her t-shirt.

So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Her life had changed again in devastating fashion.

One bite. One lifeless body. One mouthful of blood. That was all it had taken.

Flynn felt like her heart had been torn out of her body one second, fixed back in with sticky tape and plasters the next, only for the plasters to be ripped off and tossed aside, leaving the wound weeping and unprotected.

There was no longer a pane of glass in the wooden window frame, just a halo of jagged shards that threatened to come loose at any moment and fall. Some of the pieces were tipped with traces of thick, red blood, now dry. Others had captured tiny fibres of fabric and strands of hair between the hairline cracks. The impact that had broken the window had come from the inside, so the fragments of glass that had already fallen were on the ground outside, collected in the flowerbed under the lounge window. She’d have to sort that sometime, but not today.

One step at a time.

The pieces of wood that were once Ellie’s double bed, were now all neatly stacked against the wall beside Flynn. She and Lori had already lugged the mattress down the stairs and outside to the back garden. She wasn’t sure what they were going to do with it. It certainly wasn’t in a state that any sane person would want to use it again — the fabric ripped by the frantic slashes of claws, springs poking out. They’d probably need a skip for all the debris. But that could wait as well.

Ellie’s clothes still hung in the wardrobe. It was about the only piece of furniture that hadn’t been smashed to bits.

Anger. Pure anger.

She had truly never seen anything like it.

And Ellie was the last person she’d have expected to be the perpetrator of such an act. She had been true to her promise, the one that said she would vent her feelings if she were turned, on those she had once loved.

Was there any possibility that Ellie still did love them? Or was that all gone, like a distant memory?

Lori had mostly left Flynn alone. She preferred it that way. Sometimes you needed company, other times it was better to deal with things on your own. She wanted to be left with her thoughts, because they were such a tangle that she needed time to sort them out.

She wasn’t sure what she’d imagined would happen if Ellie were turned, but it wasn’t this.

How could something that you’d wanted so badly, turn out so very wrong?

Ellie had never been mean, angry or out of control in the whole time she’d known her.

She was now.

Out of control like your worst monster nightmare.

And none of it was her fault.

Flynn still couldn’t believe that Bones had succumbed. That he’d jumped up onto Ellie’s bed, drained her blood dry and fed her his blood to bring her back to life. Rag had said it was too late, that Ellie was already dead, but Rag was wrong. So wrong.

That night she’d learned what happened if someone who didn’t want to be turned found out they now had fangs and an insatiable craving to drink blood. She’d also discovered just how powerful she could be when people she loved were at risk and how horrific it was to have to force someone who’d given you so much, who you loved more than you could put into words, away.

It was Ellie who’d ransacked the room, but it was Flynn who’d created the punch of air that had thrust Ellie through the pane of glass onto the lawn below. And it was Rag who’d banished Ellie from her own house — it was only supposed to be a temporary measure, until she calmed down.

But she hadn’t waited for the reprieve. She’d run off into the night. Alone.

Angry.

Frightened.

Betrayed.

Ellie.

The image Flynn had pictured in her head of what would happen if someone was turned, not that she’d assumed anything was going to happen other than Ellie dying, had been something like a scene from Sleeping Beauty. The prince, in this case Bones, kisses her, otherwise known as draining her blood, and she awakes, delighted to be alive, with little birds chirping in the background and fairy dust liberally sprinkled around.

Some fairy tale ending.

Ellie hadn’t been confused by the situation at all. The moment her eyes opened, she knew what had happened. Her face had taken on that vampiric glare, a mixture of hatred and superiority. Her fangs had descended, pressing against her lower lip and she’d leaped from under the covers, in her pyjamas that had little puppy dog paws all over them. If she hadn’t been so frightened, Flynn might have laughed.

She wasn’t laughing.

When Ellie had been banished, the sun had already been teasing the sky with a sliver of light. Ellie had no protection.

Rag should’ve thought of that.

No, it wasn’t his fault. He was only doing what he thought was best. It was a reaction, not a considered action.

That was one day ago.

They’d thought she might come back at night, but she hadn’t.

Rag had packed the bare necessities and he and Bones had gone after her.

They would find Ellie, she was sure, but what would happen after that, and how long it would take, nobody knew.

And in the meantime?

She watched as Carrie’s car drew up the drive, and sucked in a hissing breath through her gritted teeth.

CARRIE TURNED off the ignition of her brand new car. It should’ve been a joy to be driving it, but her stomach felt sour, and not because of any lack of blood in her diet.

She stared up at The Old Bakery — a building she’d had a love-hate relationship with over the past few months. Not because of the building itself, because of the occupants. Or, one in particular. Ellie Scarth.

When Rag had rung her to ask for a favour, this was not what she had imagined.

She couldn’t believe he was gone again, without even asking her opinion on what he should do, and full of demands. She couldn’t believe she’d agreed to those demands.

Was this what love did to you? She’d have to rethink that arrangement. She was going soft.

She wasn’t surprised that Ellie was now a vampire, but she found it hard to believe that Bones had been the one to crack. She’d been sure it would be Rag. He was the impulsive one, the one who didn’t think about the consequences of his actions. But then, she didn’t really know Bones, she only knew of him. Everything she’d learned was hearsay, Rag’s reminiscences, because they’d never connected one-on-one. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been amenable if she’d suggested such a thing.

Flynn was spying on her from the window.

She tried to imagine what the conversation had been like when Rag told her and Lori that she would be their guardian while he and Bones were away.

If the reaction was good, she was a mortal.

Carrie couldn’t have said no, however much she loathed the idea. Anything else would likely have put paid to the relationship she had with Rag, and by consequence, any contact she had with Flynn, apart from school.

Really, she should’ve been pleased to have been asked. Wasn’t this what she wanted? To be a mother to Flynn? She was pretty sure the reality wasn’t going to match up to the dreams she’d once had.

Carrie got out of the car, grabbed her bag from the boot and walked up to the door.

Flynn, she shouted up, Let me in, please.

Even though she could now enter without Flynn’s permission, she didn’t want to antagonise the situation any further, and breaking the door down would certainly do that.

The silence that met her words was expected, and it took a full five minutes before Flynn appeared in front of her at the door.

You’re only here on a technicality, said Flynn.

I know.

And when I turn sixteen, you’re out.

God, I hope they’re back before then.

You can have Rag’s room, then he’ll only have you to blame when everything’s out of place. You know where it is.

As she walked into the house and past Flynn, Lori emerged from the kitchen, a tea towel in her hands. They nodded, but no words were exchanged.

The next few weeks were going to be testing.

Chapter 2

LORI OPENED the kitchen cupboard looking for the box of cornflakes and was met with nothing but a packet of porridge oats.

No, she whined, remembering that she’d finished the last packet the day before and no one had been shopping in between. Breakfast was the one meal she still couldn’t do without. She’d tried, but her stomach always grumbled like there was a volcano bubbling away inside it, and the only thing she’d ever fancied first thing was cornflakes. Even blood jam made her stomach turn that early in the morning.

Aren’t you supposed to be looking after us? she shot off at Carrie, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of textbooks in front of her.

Carrie’s eyes raised, but her head didn’t move.

Shouldn’t you have done the shopping? said Lori.

Carrie leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.

And I suppose you need to have your hand held every time you walk out the door as well. Should I get you one of those baby harnesses so that you don’t get lost? I’m not your Sire any more. You wanted out. You got it.

Carrie returned to her class prep work.

If you’re not here to do things like shopping, then what are you here for?

Carrie slammed down her pen.

So that there’s an adult in the house. So that no busybody can report that you’re not being looked after. Because Rag asked me.

Great. So, no use at all, then?

Lori turned away, but before she could put her bowl back in its rightful place unused, an arm was around her throat, dragging her back. She was so surprised, she dropped the bowl and it smashed against the floor tiles. Where was this kind of behaviour in the guardian charter?

Shall I tell you what’s going to happen? said Carrie.

The arm tightened. Lori couldn’t speak, so she grunted in acknowledgement instead.

I am going to stay in this house until Rag returns. That might be one day, it might be three months. I am going to mind my own business. I expect you and Flynn to mind yours. We will not engage in idle chitter-chatter that has no purpose. We will speak when necessary. I expect that to be less than once per day. If you need shopping, you go and buy it. I can feed myself. Am I clear?

Lori grunted again.

Her neck was released and she ran out of the room, shaking. She met Flynn on the stairs.

Flynn put out her palm to stop her running any further.

Tell me what happened, she said.

Lori wiped at her eyes. She was absolutely not crying, it was sweat, from fear, or something.

It’s nothing, she said.

It’s not nothing. Tell me.

Carrie walked out of the kitchen and stood below them at the bottom of the stairs. She was smirking.

It is nothing, said Lori, I was just being silly.

Flynn closed her eyes for a moment and a whoosh of energy passed by Lori’s ear. A loud thump echoed behind her. She almost didn’t dare look.

But she did.

There was something about strange noises behind you that was a bit like buttons that said ‘Don’t Push’. You had to know.

Carrie was unceremoniously slumped against the wall. There was a slight crack in the plasterboard behind her. Lori stifled a giggle.

This is our house, said Flynn, We make the rules, not you. Now, Lori, what’s the problem?

It’s nothing, really. It sounded stupid even to her now, that all this was over cornflakes.

Lori?

We need some things from the shops, she said.

Shopping?

She thought she noticed a flash of incredulity on Flynn’s face, but it disappeared almost immediately.

Right, then. We’ll make a list, and seeing as you’re the only official adult in the house, you will make sure we are well stocked up.

Never mind that they had been doing all the shopping over the past few weeks while Ellie was ill by themselves, or that Flynn was not as young as she seemed..

I will not, growled Carrie, still crumpled on the floor.

You will, said Flynn.

It’s okay, said Lori, I wanted some fresh air anyway. I’ll go.

Lori retreated down the stairs, grabbed her bag, and was out the door in seconds. She leaned back against the front door waiting for an explosion of rage, or something, behind her, but nothing came.

Cornflakes, she said, and was on her way.

Chapter 3

ARTHUR PULLED back the door and let Flynn into his house. She nodded at him in greeting and he did the same back. That wasn’t unusual. They weren’t exactly friends, they were tutor and pupil, and as such, pleasantries were often forgotten. Still, there was something not quite right about her demeanour. Flynn was always preoccupied, but this was something more. It was like a light had gone out inside her. There was no enthusiasm in the way she moved.

And then it hit him. There were some events he couldn’t foresee in forensic detail, as in exact date and time, but he was pretty sure Ellie must have now died.

They sat down opposite each other, her on the sofa and him on his favourite armchair and he waited for her to speak. It was the habit they’d got into with the lessons. She always had a problem that had some kind of moral dilemma involved and they talked it through, how magic could help it, and how common sense and morality could too. In some ways it helped that Flynn’s life was so fraught — lesson plans were not needed.

This time her mouth stayed tightly shut.

She was clutching her hands together as if trying to keep her emotions in. That was never a good sign. It might be understandable, given the circumstances, but a witch with pent up emotions might inadvertently have them explode in the middle of a spell. It wasn’t a coincidence that people talked about things ‘spelling disaster’.

He decided he needed to speak first. She obviously wasn’t going to tell him what had happened, so he would deal with the consequences before the symptoms.

Relaxation techniques, he said.

She lifted her head.

What?

You need to learn how to relax.

She looked at him with blank eyes, then turned away. Really? That’s the best you can do? I need to relax?

He waited to see if she would continue, so that he could get some sense of what her true state of mind was. She stayed tight-lipped.

Then, tell me what’s wrong.

Her look changed to complete disbelief, wide eyes and gaping mouth. If she’d been standing, her hands would’ve been on her hips, instead her fingers sank into the fabric of the sofa, making deep indentations.

I thought you could see the future. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?

Flynn, I only see the big picture, not the detail.

She thrust an accusing finger towards his face.

Convenient that. You knew my birth mother was in danger. Don’t deny it.

Yes, I did. That was big picture.

Why? What makes something big picture?

He thought that was obvious, but he humoured her.

Because it has implications greater than the event.

All things have implications. Every thing we do has an effect on others.

Yes, but the knock-on effects of the majority of actions, events, are minor.

She stood, so that she was towering over him, and for a second he did feel a hint of