Chapter 12
Three days had passed since Shivvy met Daniel in the abandoned churchyard near her home in East Linton. Now, she paced restlessly up and down the guest room she'd been assigned at Eilean Donan, the ancestral home of the McKenzies. Her days had been filled from dawn to dark with meaningless social activities, leaving her no time to slip away and meet Daniel, who she knew had followed her here. Even sending fire messages was risky under Gerard McKenzie's watchful eyes.
Thoughts of McKenzie sent a chill down Shivvy's spine. Greater acquaintance with the Head of the Edinburgh Institute had done nothing to change the girl's opinion of him. He was just like his home, dark, brooding and cold. The ancient castle sat on a craggy tidal island, attached to the mainline by and a heavy stone bridge. The feeling of being cut off, isolated from everyone she held dear lay heavy on Shivvy's heart, and made her count the minutes until she could leave this awful place.
Shivvy looked around the guest room she'd been assigned. The walls were covered in heavy oak panelling, the furniture large, dark and formal. The cold stone floor was covered in a threadbare oriental carpet that might have at one time been vibrant shades of red and gold, but was now a faded remnant of its former glory. Heavy, old fashioned drapes covered the small windows and surrounded the uncomfortable four poster bed. Taken all together the effect was gloomy and unwelcoming.
The young girl lay down on top of the bed, hesitant to pull back the covers, even though the room was rather cold. Tired as she was, and wearied more in spirit than anything else, Shivvy doubted she would be able to get much sleep. The creaks and groans that an old, strange place always seems to make, enough to keep her on edge. Somewhere in the ancient castle, Shivvy heard a clock strike three, and remembered someone describing that hour as the midnight of the soul when, ' you're the nearest to dead you'll ever be save dying.' [1]
Just as she began to drift off, the distant sound of a child's cry, frightened and somehow familiar, jarred her awake... Aiden? It couldn't be, surely he was safe at home with Magnus and Alec, wasn't he?
~~~~~ ! ~~~~~
Daniel LaCroix stood in a dark corner of the room watching impatiently as the setting sun dipped below the surrounding hills. It had been days since he had last seen or heard from Shivvy McRae, and all the rumours and tidbits of information he'd gleaned about Eilean Donan and its stern master served only to heighten his concern. The intervening years since Daniel first met Shivvy at the Chateau Trecesson had seen great changes in the young vampire. Where a sensitive, traumatized boy had been, a strong, handsome young man stood, confident in his abilities and with a true sense of purpose.
Accepting what had happened to him in France, being turned against his will into a vampire, had been difficult, but with the help of the New York shadowhunters, particularly Simon, he'd adjusted. He'd even begun to make inroads into the downworld community forging alliances, and developing some friendships along the way. Those relationships stood him in good stead, particularly now, as he tried to find out as much as he could about the Head of the Edinburgh Institute.
Daniel was staying at an abandoned manor house in the vicinity of Eilean Donan. The manor was owned by the local vampire clan, and looked, to any passing mundane, like a derelict shell with crumbling stone walls and gaping holes in the roof. The reality was really quite different. The elegant sitting room he stood in boasted comfortable winged back chairs and overstuffed sofas surrounding a large stone hearth. The windows were covered, floor-to-ceiling by heavy blackout drapes that provided amble security for the manor's inhabitants from the harmful rays of the sun.
Sighing softly as he continued to wait, Daniel hoped that the man he expected to see shortly would have some definitive news for him about the elusive Gerard McKenzie, and what, if anything, he wanted with Shivvy McRae. Suddenly small flashes of brilliant light engulfed in darkness deeper than the night swirled around the stone wall that surrounded the overgrown garden, and the young vampire knew his guest had arrived.
Moving swiftly into the grand entrance hall, Daniel opened the heavy oak door to admit his guest, Aidan Briosag, the High Warlock of Edinburgh. Aidan brushed past him into the manor, a curt nod the only indication that he was greeting someone he knew.
"Have you heard from Shivvy?" He asked before sweeping off his dark cloak and handing it to the boy.
"No, not a word;" Daniel replied somberly as he took up the cloak and led Aidan into the lounge he'd recently abandoned. A fitful fire flickered on the hearth, creating strange shadows in the deep corners of the room.
Aidan Briosag frowned at Daniel's response. The High Warlock had never particularly liked Gerard McKenzie, finding him arrogant and officious, but he'd known no actual ill of the man, and relations between the Edinburgh downworld and the Clave had improved over the course of his tenure as head of the Institute. Aidan hadn't expected to find much of interest when Daniel asked him to check out McKenzie, he understood that the young vampire would be suspicious, but showing interest in Shivvy McRae was hardly a crime; besides Aidan thought Shivvy quite capable of taking care of herself.
Once the High Warlock began to scratch the surface, however, he became more concerned. Gerard McKenzie was a man with secrets, dangerous secrets. The first piece of information that came Aidan's way was that a particularly loathsome potion maker by the name of Marcus Gorgon had been seen slipping into the back door of the Edinburgh Institute. Gorgon had made a name for himself throughout Eastern Europe for to his willingness to experiment with highly dangerous ingredients on innocent mundanes and downworlders. Broisag was not at all pleased to find this warlock visiting his beloved city, and wondered what business he could have with the local shadowhunters.
The second piece of information, and just as disturbing, was that the Hellfire club was recruiting again. In the past, Aidan Briosag had suspected there might be a link between the Edinburgh Institute and the Hellfire Club, but he had no actual proof, and that was not a charge to be leveled lightly. With the terrible history that existed between the Clave and the Edinburgh downworld, Aidan did not trust the shadowhunters to adequately investigate or police their own. It had been with great reluctance he decided to use the only method he had of determining the truth of his suspicions, he summoned a demon. Aidan Briosag was an old and powerful warlock, and he knew that such an act was fraught with danger, not only to himself as the summoner, but also to the mundane world if he failed to control the situation. It had been a harrowing experience, but the upshot was he knew the Hellfire Club was meeting at Eilean Donan, and Shivvy McRae was likely in mortal danger.
All that remained now was to update Daniel on what he'd discovered and help the young vampire get his beloved Shivvy away from this cursed place.
Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes