Kiera Hudson & The Adoring Artist (Kiera Hudson Series Three Book 3)

by Tim O'Rourke

  A male lycanthrope was leading Nev from a cave. What looked like a chain had been fixed about Nev’s throat and the wolf was yanking on it. Nev stumbled forward, his hands chained in his lap. He was stooped forward, his messy hair flopping over his brow. He had streaks of blood up the front of his denim shirt and down his jeans. His face looked swollen with bruises around the eyes and mouth. He looked as if he had taken a good beating.

  From our hiding place on the hillside, Potter and I watched the Lycanthrope lead Nev into another cave further down the valley. The lycanthrope that yanked on the chain around Nev’s neck was tall and muscular. His face was set somewhere between wolf and human, just like mine. He walked upright and his long, grey hair trailed down his back. He wore a poncho, jeans, and boots. I knew that if I ventured down into the valley, they would consider me one of them. I wouldn’t even be noticed. It was the only chance I had of saving Nev.

  Slowly, I got up.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” Potter said, grabbing my arm and pulling me back down beside him again.

  “To save Nev,” I said.

  “Have you lost your mind? There’s at least fifty or more wolves down there.”

  “And I look just like them,” I said, pulling back my hood. “The wolves won’t give me a second look.”

  “But they’ll look twice at me,” Potter growled. “I don’t have the whole hairy-thing going on.”

  “I’m going down into the valley on my own,” I told him, getting to my knees again and peering over the brow of the hill. I had lost sight of Nev.

  “And what about me?” Potter said. “What part do I play in all of this?”

  “You’re my backup in case anything goes horribly wrong,” I said, glancing down at him.

  “And how am I meant to back you up?”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something.” I grinned down at him. “You’ve got a set of claws and wings, haven’t you?”

  Before Potter could object any further to the thinnest plan I’d ever had, I’d scrambled over the side of the hill. Pulling my hood up just enough to reveal my wolfish face, I made my way into the valley. The wolves were coming out of their caves and packing away what little they brought with them. Potter said that they had ventured out from their world. Had he been referring to the caves beneath the Fountain of Souls? Did they exist in this where and when? If so, is that where the wolves were heading back to? But why had they broken the truce that The Creeping Men had forged with them? Hadn’t the death of their Queen, Lilly Blu, therefore been in vain? What had enticed them out of their sanctuary?

  I entered the valley unnoticed, slinking in amongst the wolves that packed away pots, pans, and rolls of bedding. One of them brushed into me as I passed by.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, head low, hoodie pulled up next to the sides of my face.

  “Look where you’re heading next time,” the wolf grunted without looking up at me. He wore a checked shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbows. His arms were covered with thick, wiry hair as were the backs of his giant hands. I looked away, crossing the valley toward the cave where I had seen the wolf lead Nev into. I came close to brushing past several more wolves before I’d reached the cave. Only one, a young woman, caught my eyes, but I glanced quickly away. Even though I looked just like one of them, I could still be singled out as a stranger in their camp.

  Reaching the cave, I leant against the wall. I looked back over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being watched. When I was sure that I wasn’t being spied on, I peeked around the opening of the cave. I stepped immediately away, hiding myself again. Crouching down, and with the hood now pulled low over my face, I dared to peer around the wall and into the cave again. Nev was standing before two wolves. His head was slumped down onto his chest. He looked exhausted.

  “You didn’t have to go so hard on him,” one of the wolves said. He was tall and lean, not thickset like the other who stood beside him. Both of them had long hair that trailed down their backs. They wore long, dark coats that hung just an inch above the leather boots they wore.

  “You wanted to know the truth, didn’t you, before we go back and face Bruce Scott?” the other said.

  Bruce Scott! I knew that name. I knew the man who was called by it. He was a wolf. He had been the leader of the Wolf Council in the world I’d just been pushed from. It was he and his men that my friends and I had formed an uneasy alliance with to defeat Luke Bishop. His only true friend amongst us had been Lilly Blu. Was Bruce Scott the wolf’s leader in this world? Had he taken Lilly Blu’s place now that she was dead? With my heart racing, I edged further into the cave desperate to hear the wolves’ conversation. Keeping to the shadows and staying low, I listened to them.

  “And does he know anything?” the first wolf asked his companion.

  “He claims not to, but why else would he come so often and sit before the statue in Snake Weed?”

  “I just like to paint it,” I heard Nev whisper without raising his head. “I just think she’s beautiful.”

  “Liar!” the second lycanthrope roared, striking Nev in the side of the head with one hammer-like fist.

  Nev flew backwards. Blood sprayed from his already split mouth.

  As if crumpling at the waist, he dropped to the cave floor. I stifled the urge to leap from the shadows and strike back at the wolf who had hurt Nev.

  “Go gently, my friend,” the first wolf urged. “Bruce Scott doesn’t want him dead.”

  “And I don’t want to return back to the fountains looking like a fool,” the other spat, striking out with one boot and driving it into Nev’s bloodied face. I heard a sickening crunch as Nev’s nose broke.

  “When is she coming?” the wolf screamed, lashing at Nev again.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nev croaked through a mouthful of blood. It spilled onto his chin like thick, black streams of snot.

  “Liar!” the wolf bellowed again. “Who is she coming to save…?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about… I just like to paint… the statue,” Nev wailed, as the wolf rained down another series of furious blows on him.

  Unable to sit back and watch my friend being beaten to death, I leapt from my hiding place. With claws raised and hood up, I shot across the cave. I sunk one set of claws deep in the neck of the wolf that was still beating Nev as he lay curled up in a ball on the ground. His blood rushed hot and sticky over my long fingers and up my wrist. He threw his hands to his throat, a rattling sound coming from deep within him. I sliced my claw to the right in one quick swipe, removing his head from the rest of him. It spun away, eyes and mouth still open. His twitching body dropped to the ground in a giant plume of dust.

  “Who the fuck are you?” the other wolf gasped, a look of shock and horror on his face.

  “I’m the statue,” I whispered into one of his pointed ears before driving my claw deep into his stomach and removing his intestines.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  With the wolf’s innards dripping from my claws like dead black snakes, I looked from beneath my hood and down at Nev.

  Looking up at my eyes that blazed from within the darkness of my hood, he whispered, “Don’t hurt me.”

  “I haven’t come to hurt you,” I said. “I’ve come to save you.”

  Crouching down, I knelt beside him. I held his face in my claws. He pulled away.

  “You don’t have to be scared,” I said.

  Screwing up his puffy and swollen eyes, he peered into the darkness of my hood at my feline-like eyes. “Who are you – what are you?” he breathed.

  “It doesn’t matter who or what I am,” I said. “What matters is that I get you out of here.” Placing one arm under his, I pulled him up. Twice he nearly fell back to the ground again as I heaved him to the mouth of the cave. Together we staggered forward, not knowing how I intended to cross the valley with him bleeding in my arms without drawing the attention of the other wolves. I could see through the opening that it wa
s now almost fully dark outside. But the other wolves were no longer packing up and making ready to leave camp, they were standing as one in the centre of the valley and facing the entrance of the cave where I now stood with Nev in my arms.

  “Traitor!” one bellowed, still believing that I was one of them.

  “She is taking the prisoner!” another roared, racing across the valley toward me.

  With my arm still tight about Nev, I tried to move forward as fast as I could, one claw raised before me. “You’re going to have to help me or we’re both dead,” I said to Nev from beneath my hood.

  “What do you want me to do exactly?” Nev mumbled through his pain, watching not just one but all of the remaining wolves now racing towards us.

  They came at us, kicking up clouds of dust as they leapt and bounded forward. Some were on all fours, already changed into full wolves, others on two legs, claws raking through the air. Their howls rumbled across the valley like thunder.

  “Get back,” I snarled at Nev, pushing him away from me and into the cave once more. He would be safer there.

  Spinning around, I slashed my claws through the air at the first wolf that lunged forward. I raked open its throat in one swift movement. The giant creature dropped to the ground, blood gushing all over the grey fur that covered its throat. The wolf’s eyes rolled wildly as it fought to cling onto life. But it was dead before it had even reached the ground. There was no way back from the jagged tear I’d cut in its flesh. Two more came forward, one on each side of me. I spun around, slashing, ripping, and tearing at anything within my reach. I moved so fast that I became little more than a blur as I drove my claws into the throats, chests, and skulls of the wolves that charged at me. Blood, fur, and flesh sprayed up into the air, as I showed not one of them a second of mercy, for they wouldn’t show me any if I fell. I counted at least ten dead wolves strewn in pieces before me. My heart pumped so fast that my body felt as if it was vibrating. The sound of the wolves’ howls echoed off the rugged valley walls. Throwing my head back, I joined in their chorus before leaping forward and slicing apart the gapping jaws of a wolf that had lunged through the air at me. Over the howling and snarling, I heard Nev cry out. I looked back to see that one of the wolves had snuck into the cave behind me. The creature had its snout buried into Nev’s throat as he thrashed his arms and legs frantically about.

  “No!” I screamed, bounding forward. I attacked the beast from behind, driving my claws deep into the back of the wolf’s head. Its eyes shot from their sockets in a red mush as my claws appeared in the holes where they had been just moments before. I heaved the corpse of the wolf from off Nev. He lay spread on the floor, blood pumping from a hole in his throat. I reached for him, but before I’d had a chance to touch him, I was flying back in the air and out of the cave. Crashing down onto the rocky floor of the valley, I cried out. I looked up to see that the remaining wolves had circled me.

  But instead of attacking, they suddenly flinched, glancing upwards at what sounded like the sudden boom of thunder from above. I followed their stares and caught sight of the winged creature soar across the sky. Stripped to the waist and with tatty black wings stretched out fully on either side of him, Potter blasted out of the night, claws and fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Potter had sliced away four of the wolves’ heads before they even knew truly what was happening. Seizing my chance, I leapt to my feet, springing into the air. Potter snatched me by the shoulder, spiralling away at speed into the air.

  “We have to go back!” I said.

  “Don’t worry, I have every intention of finishing what we’ve started,” Potter said. “We can’t leave any of those fuckers alive so they can go back and tell the others what happened here.”

  With one arm about my waist, Potter dropped out of the sky.

  “Ready?” he whispered in my ear.

  “I’m ready,” I whispered back, as he let go of me.

  With my hoodie flying down to reveal my wolf-like face, I hit the ground running. Howling, I darted forward at the wolves that were now racing toward me. Leaping into the air just above their heads, I spun around, dragging my claws down the lengths of their backs. Fur sprayed up from beneath my claws, the creatures’ flesh peeled away, revealing their humped spines. They dropped forward then gave up – long, pink tongues lolling from the corners of their ferocious jaws.

  Looking back, I watched Potter swoop out of the sky, his wings bristling in the wind. In a blur of black shadows, he shot forward, his claws swiping at speed through the air as he shredded several more of the wolves with lightning speed.

  With blood splashed over his chest, claws, and arms, Potter grinned at me and said, “I’m fucking loving this, aren’t you?”

  Before I could say anything, he was racing away again, cutting, biting, and tearing into any of the wolves within reach. With less than ten of the wolves remaining, I raced back toward the cave where Nev lay bleeding on the floor. As I went, I saw something from the corner of my eye. It stood on the brow of the hill in the distance. Stopping dead in my tracks, I looked up at the white wolf that stood there. It looked at me, and I looked back at it. Then, as if it were nothing more than a puff of smoke – a wisp of cloud, it was gone – melting away in the wind.

  The white wolf? I wondered. Lilly Blu?

  Shaking my head as if waking from a dream, I looked away from the hill and closed the gap between me and the entrance to the cave. Within feet of it, I was thrown back through the air. At first I wondered if it wasn’t Potter snatching me back up into the sky again. But I was soon crashing back into the ground again. The wolf came forward. It was the man I’d knocked into earlier. His sleeves were still rolled to his elbows, but his hands were now claws. He loomed over me, his wolf-like face peering down into mine.

  “How could you? You’re a wolf just like us. How can you fight alongside a Vampyrus – a filthy bat?” he snarled, driving one of his claws at my throat.

  “I might look like a bat, but I’m hung like a horse,” I heard Potter say as his hand burst through the wolf’s chest, clutching the creature’s pumping heart.

  The wolf dropped face-first onto the ground before me. With his dead black eyes fixed on mine, Potter raised the still-beating heart to his mouth. He took a bite from it. “Want some?” He winked back at me.

  Looking away, I scrambled to my feet and raced toward the cave. Nev still lay on the floor, his neck, chin, and shirt soaked black with blood.

  “Nev,” I said, taking him by the shoulders and shaking him. “Nev!”

  “He’s dead,” Potter said, his shadow looming in the cave entrance.

  “No,” I said. “We’ve got to save him.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Potter said, stepping forward and placing one hand on my shoulder. “We tried.”

  “We didn’t try hard enough,” I said, glancing back at him.

  “Didn’t try hard enough?” Potter frowned, crouching beside me. “We did everything we could. You did everything you could. Kiera, you changed into the wolf to save him. There’s nothing more you can do.”

  “There is something I can do to save him,” I said, staring back down at Nev’s lifeless body.

  “Like what?” Potter asked.

  “I can bite him,” I said.

  Potter gripped my arms so tight, I thought he might just break my arm. He dragged me to my feet. “Have you lost your fucking mind?!” he seethed into my face.

  “You bit Sophie,” I reminded him, tearing my arm free of his hold.

  “That was different!”

  “How?” I shot back.

  “I love her,” he said.

  “I thought you loved me!”

  “It’s different,” he said.

  “It’s not,” I insisted.

  “She’s carrying my child.”

  “That’s your problem,” I said. “It’s not my problem or Nev’s.”

  “Get a fucking grip, Kiera,” Potter snapped, taking me by the arm again. “He’s just some kid. I’m s
ad that he’s dead. But he’s not one of us.”

  “And neither was Sophie until you sank your fangs into her,” I hissed, trying to break free of him. But Potter held me tight.

  “Sophie has my child inside her,” Potter said, his dark eyes now two black pits of sorrow. “That’s the only reason I bit her. I did it to save the child. Nothing else. I didn’t do it because I’m in love with Sophie. I’m in love with you. Can’t you fucking see that? Christ, I’ve put my life on the line for you. The moment I realised what you truly were, I should have gone back to Hallowed Manor and informed the others. But I didn’t. I stayed with you. I agreed to keep your secret, even though it meant I could end up dead. I did all of that because it’s you I’m in love with, Kiera. Are you so blind that you can’t see that?”

  I looked back into his eyes, searching them for any signs of the man I loved. Was he there? Was this him? Had he just forgotten? Could I bring him back? But what about Nev? He was dead because of me. I should have never gotten involved with him. I should have listened to my instincts and not become his friend. Potter was right about him. Nev wasn’t one of us – he was nothing like us. But he had died because of us – because of me. So yanking hard on Potter’s arm, I broke free. Spinning around to face Nev stretched dead on the floor, I dropped to my knees. Brandishing my fangs, I made a lunge for his neck. No sooner had my lips brushed the cold skin that covered Nev’s neck, I was being hurled backwards.

  “I won’t let you do it, Kiera!” Potter hollered at me as I landed on my arse at the entrance to the cave. He now stood between me and Nev’s body. “It’s a mistake.”

  “You’re jealous!” I roared, springing back to my feet, claws up.

  “Just listen to yourself!” Potter shouted. “This has nothing to do with me or how I feel about you. What you want to do is wrong.”

  “And so was turning Sophie,” I said, lunging forward at him.

  Potter gripped me again. With our noses almost touching, he looked deep into my bright eyes. “Kiera, this is the wolf talking inside of you. It’s taken you over.”