Corrigan Rage Read Online Free Page B

previously. I chuckled to myself. One thing I could say about Mack – I was never bored when she was around.

CHAPTER FOUR
    I was sparring in the garden with Staines, distracting myself from thoughts of Mack, when Lucy arrived with the news. It was easy to tell from the look on her face that something was wrong.
    ‘What is it?’ I asked, calling a halt to the fight.
    ‘That ... thing is here again. The vampire.’
    I frowned. ‘You mean Aubrey.’
    ‘I think that’s his name.’ She sniffed. ‘Although it’s a stupid one.’
    I exchanged a wary glance with Staines. ‘Did he say what he wanted?’
    ‘Nope.’
    I chewed the inside of my cheek. Even though he’d agreed that the bloodsuckers would host the upcoming Otherworld gathering, the way Aubrey had acted when the entire Pack was under threat from the red fever did not exactly make me particularly keen to sit down and chat to him. I’d set upon this course of achieving greater harmony across our different groups, however. The vampires, who were always on the periphery and tended to concern themselves solely with their own self interests, were by far the most dangerous of them all. It stood to reason that the closer I could keep them, the more I’d have a chance of controlling them. Or, if not controlling, then at the very least preventing them from causing chaos whenever they decided they were at a loose end.
    ‘You should go, my Lord,’ Staines said. ‘Find out what he wants if nothing else.’
    ‘Maybe I should be optimistic,’ I agreed. ‘Perhaps he’s made the choice to turn vegan and bring every damn vampire along with him.’
    He raised his eyebrows. ‘It’d certainly make the world a safer place.’
    I sighed. ‘I have the feeling that the only thing that would keep the world safe from the vampires would be to de-fang the lot of them.’
    ‘One day, my Lord, one day.’
    I grabbed my t-shirt from the side and pulled it over my head. It felt slightly sticky and unpleasant against the sheen of sweat on my skin but it wasn’t like I cared what Aubrey thought of my personal hygiene. It was tempting to make him wait while I took a shower but, after speaking to him, I’d probably just need to cleanse myself again anyway.
    I strolled through the mansion to where he was waiting at the front. He seemed to be inspecting one of old paintings which had been displayed there for as long as I could remember – a young girl of around sixteen or seventeen with dark hair, clear innocent eyes and an open book on her lap.
    ‘Do you know who this is?’ Aubrey asked without turning.
    I stared at the painted woman. As far as I was aware, no-one in the Brethren, not even the ancient librarian, knew the painting’s provenance or subject. ‘No,’ I said slowly, wondering what on earth all this was about.
    ‘Her name was Jane. Jane Grey.’
    I frowned. That rung a tiny bell.
    Aubrey continued. ‘As far as the humans are aware she is the only English monarch of whom there is no contemporary painting.’
    ‘You mean...’
    ‘On the throne for nine days.’ He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled coldly. ‘Before her execution, of course.’
    ‘You knew her?’
    He waved a hand. ‘Before my time. But it’s because of us that she died.’
    ‘You meddled in the succession of the throne?’
    ‘My dear boy,’ he laughed patronisingly, ‘we meddle in everything.’
    ‘Why did you kill her?’
    ‘As I stated, it was before my time. But we disposed of her because it suited our purposes. And it wasn’t actually us who did the killing. It was far more delicious for us to manipulate the humans into executing her on their own. Of course with hindsight, when we eventually got Elizabeth as monarch instead of Mary, we probably should have kept poor little Lady Grey.’ He shrugged. ‘You can’t have everything though. We definitely didn’t want another Brethren sympathiser leading the country.’
    I blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Henry tried to stamp