by Tabatha Wood
I walked towards her, my body shaking with both fear and anger. Noah held her tightly. He surely must have been confused, but he stayed silent and let me speak. I should have called the Elders there and then, but I was too angry.
“Killing me won’t change what you’ve done,” I snapped. “Did you really think you were helping those children, dragging them into our world? The bloody Laws were made for a reason!”
She chuckled nastily. Her voice was low and gravelly, affected by the Change
“Fuck the Laws. It’s because of them that there were no more like me. You can’t imagine what it’s like to live so long and know so much, but be stuck in the body of a child. It doesn’t matter that you’ve had a century of experiences, you’re still treated like you don’t matter. Your ideas and opinions have no value. People judge you on how they see you. My longevity means nothing because my face doesn’t match. My God, I still have to stand up and offer my seat to people on the bus!”
“Why the bloody hell would you change them, then? If you know how difficult it is?”
“Because as hard as it is, this life is better than none! I give hope to them and their parents. I keep families together when everything seems lost. I just need people to understand that. Those children can change our future. They can rewrite the Laws which hold us back. The Change can be celebrated. It can be used for good!”
“No. You’re wrong. You’re killing them, and condemning their families. You can’t steal another’s childhood just because you lost yours. You don’t get to make that choice.”
We stared at each other. Her breathing was harsh and ragged, her eyes almost black.
“So what now?” she growled, wriggling in Noah’s grasp. “You can’t hold me here forever.”
I looked up at Noah. Our eyes met and I shook my head. I knew we could not release her. If we let her go, she would try to kill me again, and most likely Noah too. I would have to turn her in to the Elders. I knew it was likely they would condemn her for breaking the Laws, and I would be sending her to her death. But if I didn’t, and the Elders found out I’d kept quiet, I could be charged as an accomplice. I had no choice.
“You know what has to happen, Karrianne. There are consequences for what you’ve done.”
For a brief moment I thought I saw real sadness in her face, but it was quick and fleeting and I could not be sure that I’d just imagined it. She paused, and I braced myself for her to try and attack again, but instead she seemed to shrink. The anger and the rage drained out of her, leaving only a husk of her former self. Her voice sounded small and pitiful. The whine of a petulant child.
“I was only trying to help them.”
“How many are there? How many have you turned?” I asked her. She dropped her eyes, refused to look at me.
“I don’t know exactly. A couple of hundred, maybe? Maybe more.”
The implications were terrifying. The destruction to our community could be immense. She had broken one of the most important Laws and put us all at risk. I didn’t know if she stayed in any kind of contact with them, or even if she knew where they went after they’d been turned. She saw the surprise on my face, perhaps realised what I was thinking.
“The parents know the risks before they agree. They come to me. I’ve never deceived anyone.”
“Really? Always? I saw you use a Suggestion Motive on that woman today. You wouldn’t have needed to do that if she was going with you freely. You wanted a family, Karrianne. Maybe this was your twisted way of getting that?”
She tensed, and I saw Noah’s grip tighten. Her face grew harsh once more and she curled her lip.
“You know what? You can’t prove anything,” she hissed at me, her features shifting. “It’ll be your word against mine. I can tell the Elders the truth about you. About Jason, and what you did. You’re just a bogan who killed her boyfriend, and who knows how many more? You’re a fine one to talk about going rogue. At least I’ve never murdered anyone.”
I was deeply shocked, but I couldn’t let her see that she had got to me. I had no idea how she knew. I certainly hadn’t told her, in fact I had never spoken to anyone about my past at all.
Like Karriane, the Laws were unknown to me then. I’d been lucky so far, no-one seemed to suspect what I had done, but I knew it wouldn’t take much to find out the truth. I’d changed my name and I’d started afresh, but if anyone knew exactly where I had come from, they could easily track my journey down the length of the North Island. They could make the connection between me and a trail of the dead. Even here, in my own home, the inside of my heat pump held dark secrets I’d rather stay hidden. Evidence of my lack of control.
I’d done things I knew were terribly wrong. Things which the Elders could condemn me for. I was angry when I moved to the city. Full of bitterness and confusion and unable to keep the Change well under control. Noah had helped me, he had taught me how to be better, but I didn’t know how he would react if he knew the full story. It was a crime to go rogue, but it was equally illegal to hide one. Perhaps he would feel compelled to tell The Elders to save himself.
I avoided looking at him. I couldn’t let him even suspect that what she’d said was true. I loved him so much. I didn’t want to lose him. I had to make a decision — her or me. I would not let her blackmail me. I couldn’t let her steal my new life.
I played dumb.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I scoffed. “What is this, some sort of pathetic mind-game? I’m not twelve years old, Karrianne. Unlike those poor children you turned.” I carried on goading her. I needed to make her mad.
“You’re so selfish. You know they’re too young to understand their power, they won’t be able to keep it under control. You’ve sent a swathe of ticking time bombs out in to the world, and you don’t even seem to care.
“The Change makes us strong. We could change or kill whoever we wanted, and nobody could stop us. But we don’t do that because we’re not monsters. We are better than that.
“You, however, you are a monster. You killed all those children, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
She reacted exactly how I had planned. Her body twitched and jerked as her full Change began again. She brought her heel down forcefully on the top of Noah’s foot, and slammed her head back into his chest. Surprised, he lost his grip on her. She turned swiftly and punched him hard in the throat. He recoiled, stumbled backwards, and fell to the floor. I saw her bend and pick up the discarded skewer.
She straddled him. Lifted up her arm to stab him.
I didn’t wait. I allowed the Change to come over me. It rose in my throat and wrapped its dark arms around me. I felt my features twist into a grotesque mask. My jaw clicked rapidly and pulsated as my teeth multiplied, sharpened and grew. I let the fire I’d long since quelled flare up and fill me once again. The anger I had sought to bury with the dead.
She had a good many years of experience over me, but her physical body was still that of a child. My primal urges fully embraced, I held the advantage. I grabbed the back of her neck with one hand, sank my sharp nails into her flesh and pulled her to her feet, away from Noah. With the other hand, I disarmed her easily, snatching the skewer out of her weaker grip. I threw her body away from me and she slammed into the wall, shrieking as she fell. I took the metal skewer firmly in both hands, held it at chest height, its sharp point facing outwards. She picked herself up, snarled and growled, before charging back towards me. She was driven by her anger and frustration.
So predictable.
So just like a child.
She collided with my outstretched arms and let out a high pitched scream. I felt her body jerk and writhe as she tried to save herself. Too late. I dropped the skewer to the floor.
I calmed myself as best I could, letting the anger ripple out of me. I felt my body tense then relax with every passing wave. Each sharp twitch helped my usual face return. To contain the rage. I looked down and saw the pile of dust spread on the carpet.
&
nbsp; My stomach lurched. I would have to tell the Elders. I could only hope that they would listen to me. That they would understand and realise that I’d had no choice. Kill or be killed. I didn’t know for sure if Noah would support me. I’d saved him, but in doing so I had knowingly broken the Laws and destroyed one of our own.
The Elders would need to find the children, all those Karrianne had turned. They would need support and protection. Their families too. Some might not be well suited to this life. I had no way of knowing how many of them were out there. Karrianne had said hundreds. A brand new generation. They were young and had little guidance. They likely knew nothing about the Laws. They may have gone on to change others themselves; perhaps their parents, or their siblings, or their friends. Karrianne might even have encouraged them. Whatever her motives, she had certainly brought a different kind of change to our kind. It could herald the beginning of a new world order. It could destroy everything we knew.
Noah came to me without a sound. He wrapped my shaking body in his strong arms, and stroked my hair. He held me close; whispered softly in my ear.
“It’s alright. Everything is alright now.”
But he is wrong. The bright future I thought I finally had is no longer certain. My place in the world has changed. I do not know what I will do if the Elders discover my past.
Pete. Jason. Vinnie. They are the ones I know the names of, but I had killed many more than that before I’d learned the Laws. I’d let the Darkness out and embraced the rage. I’d done what I thought had needed to be done.
Now I’d killed again to protect myself. Did that really make me any different to Karrianne?
I could not face him. I felt ashamed, standing there in his embrace. I could not bear his kindness when I had caused such pain. I buried my head in his chest and wished more than anything that my kind could cry.
Neighbourly
“Oh my God! Mum! Come here! There’s a thing on the doorstep!”
Maureen heard her youngest son, Luke, shouting as she stood at the sink in the kitchen. She sighed, dried her hands on a kitchen towel, and walked to the front door.
Luke was right, there was something on the doorstep. It was around four centimetres long, with a smooth and shiny body and six spindly legs. Bands of black and brownish-yellow ringed its abdomen, while two long antennae sprang from its head, next to round, dark eyes. It looked like a large grasshopper.
“Oh, it’s just a wētā, Luke.” She bent down to shoo it gently off the step and into the bushes by the side of the door.
The boy screwed up his face in disgust.
“I don’t like them,” he whined, still scowling.
“Well, I think they’re pretty cool. We’ll probably see more of them now we’re out of the city. Maybe you’ll learn to like them?”
“No. Yuck! If I see one again, I’ll squish it!” He stamped his foot on the step as if to demonstrate his decision.
“Luke Stamford, you most certainly will not,” Maureen scolded, her hands folded firmly across her body. “They’ve got just as much right to be here as you, and you will not kill a living creature out of cruelty. Ever. You hear me?”
Luke looked sullenly at his feet, avoiding his mother’s gaze.
“Well?”
“Yeah, yeah. Alright. I won’t squish it. But I don’t have to like it. They’re ugly and creepy.”
His elder brother by three years came around the side of the house, a football in his hands.
“They’re just like you then, eh?”
“Michael!” warned Maureen, shaking her head at him in disappointment. “Do you have to?”
“I’m going to find one and put it in your bed!” Luke yelled in reply, before running into the house and slamming his bedroom door.
Maureen sighed.
“Well, thanks for that, Mike.” Michael shrugged and mouthed a mock-innocent “what?” before disappearing around the back of the house once again. Maureen knelt down, caught sight of the wētā now hiding in amongst the roots of the bush, partly hidden by dead leaves.
“Welcome to the neighbourhood, mate,” she whispered.
They had moved into the house four days prior, and every room was still cluttered with boxes and bags, still yet to be unpacked. It was a relief to be in a real house at last, eight years of the four of them crammed into a tiny two bedroom apartment in the city had been quite enough. Robert’s new job and Maureen’s surprise inheritance had suddenly given them options they’d never had before. They could finally buy a property and get out of the city. They could have a place with a decent sized garden, maybe even grow some veggies and fruit. Luke could have the dog he had always wanted.
The house had been amazingly cheap for the size and location, tucked up against the hills with a view looking back to the sea. There had been no immediate indicators that there were any hidden problems, in fact a large part of it was newly renovated. Apparently the previous owners had simply upped and left and wanted a quick sale.
The neighbours on their left, Paul and Janet, were an older couple in their sixties, and more than happy to give them the run-down and history of the house as they knew it. In fact, they were keen to talk for hours about almost anything and everything involving the immediate area. A chance “hello” over the side fence had turned into a three hour chat complete with two bottles of wine and some home-baked biscuits.
“Well the Carmichaels had it for about a year,” Janet told them that night, brushing crumbs off the front of her cardigan. “Until her husband ran off. Then the Hamilton family moved in for around seven months, but of course then their son passed away and they moved on. So sad. I think Laura Richardson lived here for almost a year, but she was never really happy, so we weren’t surprised when she left and it was up for sale again. Then Ana and Tui, who had the place before you, well, I’m not sure what happened really. They seemed to just disappear one day. We never even saw them to say goodbye, did we Paul?
“I’m sorry, I hope I’m not putting you off? It’s a gorgeous house, and such a wonderful garden too.” She paused to take a sip of her wine, and reached out to pat Maureen’s arm.
“You’re probably thinking we must be terrible neighbours or something, everyone leaves so soon!” She threw her head back and cackled; a croaky, smokers laugh.
Maureen smiled shyly and sipped her own wine. She tried to avoid catching Robert’s eye. She knew exactly what kind of face he would be pulling. He was never able to hide his emotions.
“I’m sure it’s nothing to do with you two at all,” she said sweetly. “You’ve both been very kind so far. And these biscuits you’ve made are wonderful.” It was a little white lie. The icing was far too sweet and the biscuit plain and stale. She reached out and took another bright pink circle from the plate. Sugar sprinkles scattered on her lap.
“So what about the other neighbours, it’s a nice area, right? We’ve not really seen much of anyone else yet, so we’ll probably go around to the people on the other side and say hello.”
Janet grimaced slightly, and then caught herself.
“I’m not sure you’ll get much of a welcome from her,” she said, somewhat clipped. “She’s, well, I suppose she doesn’t really like people all that much.” She shared a knowing look with her husband then fell unusually quiet.
“Oh,” Maureen faltered, not knowing how best to respond. “How so?”
Janet sniffed and focused on her wine. Paul took over instead. He settled back in his garden chair, clearly happy for his turn in the spotlight.
“Hilary’s been in that house since it was built. Must be sixty years or more. Her and her husband, they didn’t like change. He used to work in conservation and pest control. She was some sort of researcher of entomology with the University. He was always going on about keeping New Zealand predator free. He used to set traps all around the property to catch possums and other stuff. Hated cats too. Got into a bit of trouble a few times, for using poisoned bait where he shouldn’t have.” He swirled the wine in hi
s glass and took a long drink before continuing.
“They were both very much opposed to the new houses being built, yours being one of them. This was all green belt before that; trees and wildlife and whatever. It was always supposed to stay that way, but you know how it can be when money changes hands. A lot of people were very angry. After they started to cut down the trees, folk like Hilary started protesting, said they were destroying the natural habitat.
“I mean, I can almost understand the fuss, even we didn’t enjoy having the building work going on at the time,” he glanced over at Janet and they shared another look. “But, you know, people need houses, and houses get built. You can’t stop progress, eh? Some ugly stuff went on, the project got delayed, but eventually these houses went up. I think in the end it was half of how many were originally planned.
“Then, after her bloke died, Hilary went a bit… funny. She blamed everyone who had anything to do with these houses. Was adamant that it was dealing with all that which killed him. Some of us tried to help her, but there wasn’t really much we could do. Just had to leave her to get on with it in the end.
“Anyway, if you keep out of her business she’ll likely keep out of yours. You won’t ever even see her. No-one does.”
“Why? Doesn’t she go out?”
“Never. No-one’s seen her properly in years. Not since she’s been on her own. Some of us go round and tend the garden and berms for her, you know, to keep the street looking decent, but I really wouldn’t bother trying to go round and say hello. Not unless you want to hear some colourful language.”
“She sounds delightful,” Robert broke in, sarcastically. Paul laughed.
“Yeah, she's a character alright. But like I said, keep out of her way and you’ll be fine. I certainly wouldn’t expect to get neighbourly with her.”
“Do you think they’re right about that woman?” Maureen asked later, lying in bed that night.
“What woman?” Robert replied, grunting as he fought to take off his T-shirt, his neck stuck in a head hole that was just a fraction too small.
