Lycanthropic (Book 4): Moon Rise [The Age of the Werewolf]

by Morris, Steve

  And that was how he liked it. Knowledge – it really was power. It was the one lesson he had tried so hard to teach all his life.

  His enemy, by contrast, knew almost nothing about the threat they faced. They did not know the extent of his forces, or how he intended to use them. They did not know the timing of tonight’s attack, or even whether an attack would come. And they certainly could not know the one key fact that would guarantee his victory – that half of his soldiers were already inside the camp’s fence. Miraculously, it was the humans themselves who had created a new generation of werewolves for him to command.

  A hooting owl sounded through the trees and Canning smiled. It was the signal for his army to attack. Inside the camp, the fighting had already begun.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Somerset Levels, Somerset, full moon

  It had been a wonderful, mad mystery tour, taking Warg Daddy and his Brothers up the length and breadth of the country. Sometimes luck had been with him, and the coin had commanded him to kill. Other times, his fate had been to drive on and allow his victims to live. It mattered not to him. Whatever the gods decided, he was happy to obey.

  The Brothers were becoming restless however. They were beginning to question his leadership style. They didn’t always agree with the decisions of the coin. They longed for the hunt, and the thrill of the chase. Their bellies hungered for meat, and the satisfaction of the kill.

  Sometimes he had given it to them. They had murdered their way through the Midlands, butchered near Birmingham, slaughtered in Shrewsbury and tortured their victims in Taunton. Happy days.

  But there had been tricky times, like the day he’d made them release a schoolteacher and her charge of young innocents sheltering in a Devon farmhouse. The coin had commanded him to spare them, and Slasher and Bloodbath had come close to challenging him. There’d been trouble, and he’d had to flex some muscle to keep it from spreading. Slasher still had a black eye to show for it. Bloodbath’s nose would never look the same again.

  ‘Why do it?’ Vixen asked him afterwards. ‘Why choose to spare those people? It would have been easier just to kill the kiddies.’

  ‘Destiny.’ It was the only answer that made sense to him anymore.

  Just as long as he obeyed the gods, the ghosts that haunted him stayed quiet. And the pain in his skull? It was manageable, especially at night. During the day, not so much. The sun was growing stronger as the year went on. The dark days of winter were long gone. Soon it would be summer. But he didn’t know if he would live long enough to see it. No one did.

  ‘We cannot know our fate,’ he told Vixen. ‘Except by the coin. We must discover it, one throw at a time.’

  Why was that so hard for his followers to understand?

  When they next came to a fork in the road, he called the Brothers to a halt. They knew the routine by now.

  ‘What are the choices?’ demanded Warg Daddy.

  ‘City of Bath,’ read Slasher from the road sign. ‘Roman baths. World heritage site.’

  ‘Cheddar Gorge,’ read Bloodbath. ‘Explore Britain’s biggest gorge.’

  It was not an easy choice. Warg Daddy was glad he didn’t have to make it. Instead he flipped the coin. As usual, the gods had no difficulty deciding. ‘Cheddar Gorge,’ he announced.

  They drove on through the English countryside, dusk gathering around them, Warg Daddy pushing his bike to the limit. After all, destiny was waiting just around the next corner. It waited around every corner. The Brothers flew behind him, hoping for good fortune tonight.

  After a while he stopped before another road junction.

  ‘Salisbury,’ read Bloodbath. ‘Cathedral city.’

  ‘Glastonbury,’ read Meathook. ‘Historic town.’

  The coin was a golden blur against the indigo sky. ‘Tails again,’ said Warg Daddy. ‘We ride to Glastonbury.’

  He was glad he no longer bore the weight of choosing their destination. But he hoped that the gods had made a good decision this time. He’d had a run of bad luck, and the Brothers were growing hungry. They must have their blood, and soon, or there would be big trouble. He might blame the gods, but he knew that the Brothers would hold him responsible.

  The road was straight and his bike was keen. It devoured the distance like the Brothers dreamed of devouring their next victims. The miles vanished beneath him as the sky grew darker. Twilight descended and the first stars emerged, glittering like pinpricks in the celestial sphere – tiny windows to the land of the gods. He had a good feeling about tonight. Did luck have a smell? If so, he could almost sniff it.

  Glastonbury. He had been here before. Long years ago on a summer night. He had been young and carefree, back in the old days, before the choices and the bad decisions. His mind had been restful then, and there had been nothing to think of except the next beer, and the next spliff, and the next shag. There had never been a shortage of any of those. It was hard to imagine why he had ever chosen to leave that simple world behind.

  In the distance, a single light flickered against the lowering sky. He slowed his bike to a crawl and then a halt. The far-off light on the hilltop was the colour of fire. It was just a dot from here, but already he felt its heat, watched it dance and sway like a will-o-wisp calling across the marshy flats.

  Vixen leaned forward to whisper in his ear. ‘What is it? What do you see?’

  He could hear the eagerness in her voice. He revved his engine hard in reply. ‘Destiny,’ he told her. ‘We have finally found it.’

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Gatwick Airport, West Sussex, full moon

  The black cat, Shadow, had escaped onto the roof of the hotel and was refusing to come down. ‘Can you lure it back?’ Liz asked the boys.

  Vijay looked doubtful.

  ‘Is hard to catch,’ said Mihai. ‘Very fast. Sharp claws.’

  ‘I can catch Shadow,’ said Drake confidently ‘I’ll open a can of tuna. That ought to work.’

  ‘Good,’ said Liz. ‘You get the cat. I’ll wait here. I don’t want to frighten it away.’

  ‘What’s going to happen then?’ asked Vijay.

  ‘Then we’re going to catch the vampire at last.’

  Liz had already asked Corporal Jones and Evans to bring Major Hall to the hotel. She was counting that the promise of revealing the identity of the murderer would be enough to persuade the Major to come. Llewelyn would insist that all of Major Hall’s men come to the hotel with him. One of them was the vampire, and the cat would know which one. She hoped that a hissing cat would be sufficient proof for the Major. If he lived up to his zero-tolerance rhetoric, it ought to be enough to persuade him, even if the murderer turned out to be one of his own officers.

  She hoped that it would also be enough to satisfy Llewelyn and Evans too. For Liz, convincing Llewelyn of her innocence was even more important than bringing the criminal to justice. He had shown faith in her by shooting the Dogman, but she needed to deliver hard evidence. She had to prove he’d made the right choice.

  She watched as the boys, together with Aasha, rushed off eagerly to the rooftop. She had to admit that they had shown real bravery with their late-night vampire hunting. They deserved credit for showing initiative. Without their help, she would still be a long way from solving the crime.

  ‘You sure this plan’s gonna work?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘No. But it’s my best shot.’ She was aware that Kevin had played his part in getting them to this point too. Not that she was going to admit that to him.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go down to the foyer and wait for Major Hall to arrive.’

  They had to wait a while, but eventually the Major appeared, striding briskly up to the hotel’s main entrance. Corporal Jones and Evans accompanied him, and she was relieved to see that he’d brought his entire entourage of Parachute Regiment officers with him. She counted them as they entered the lobby. They numbered fourteen, including the Major.

  He smiled thinly when he saw her. ‘Constabl
e Bailey. I understand that you have a criminal for me.’

  ‘That’s right, Major. Please would you follow me up to the rooftop?’

  ‘The rooftop?’

  ‘It’ll become obvious when we get there. Please, just follow me.’ Liz glanced at Llewelyn, who gave her a wink in return.

  ‘Are all your officers here today?’ she asked Major Hall.

  ‘My most senior officers are here, yes. Is that important?’

  ‘I believe so.’

  By the time they reached the door that led onto the rooftop, Liz was beginning to have doubts about the wisdom of this exercise. So many things could go wrong. Major Hall might refuse to believe her story. The vampire might somehow have avoided coming. The cat might not perform as expected. Or perhaps the boys wouldn’t even have been able to catch it.

  But when she stepped out onto the flat roof, she breathed a sigh of relief. Drake stood with Shadow in his arms, the black cat purring contentedly as Mihai fed it slivers of tuna fish. Vijay and Aasha looked on.

  The cat looked up at her with its green eyes, and she was suddenly gripped by a fresh fear. What if the cat hissed at her? Major Hall must never discover that she was a vampire too. She stepped to one side to allow the Major and his men to walk out onto the roof. Kevin stood next to her nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets.

  ‘What is going on here?’ Major Hall’s voice expressed deep irritation. He stood tall, his hands clasped firmly behind his back, his aviator sunglasses hiding his eyes. ‘Some children? A cat? Constable Bailey, is this your idea of a joke?’

  ‘No, I assure you, there’s no joke here. This cat is going to identify the serial killer.’ She pressed on quickly, aware of how ridiculous that must sound. ‘Drake, can you bring Shadow over to the men?’

  The cat gazed at her suspiciously, distracted from its fishy meal. Drake carried it toward the first of the soldiers, standing to Liz’s left.

  The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. The cat jumped down from Drake’s hold, landing neatly on the rooftop. Immediately it arched its back and began to hiss at the first officer, a lieutenant.

  Liz was startled to achieve such an immediate result. ‘Major Hall,’ she said quickly, ‘arrest that man. He’s the killer. I’ll explain to you afterwards how I know.’

  But the Major made no move to arrest anyone. Instead he watched as the cat slowly turned and pawed its way toward the second officer in the line. This time it hissed even more loudly, every hair on its back standing tall.

  ‘This cat seems very quick to make accusations,’ said Major Hall dryly. ‘Is that man also a murderer?’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Liz.

  She watched as the cat moved once again, now turning its attention to the third soldier in the group. It spat at him viciously and hissed ever louder.

  The soldiers looked on in wry amusement.

  Drake scooped the cat up in his arms and walked the animal along the line of men. It hissed at every single one, including Major Hall.

  Understanding dawned gradually on Liz. They were all vampires, the Major and his men. Every single one.

  Chapter Seventy

  Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, full moon

  Melanie was driving Ben half-crazy, pacing the ground outside the tent and staring up at the sky impatiently. ‘Where is Sarah?’ she said. ‘It’s almost dark now.’ She spun on the heel of her boot and marched back toward him.

  Exasperated, he grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her in her tracks. ‘For goodness’ sake, Mel. She’ll be back soon.’

  His words did nothing to placate her. ‘She ought to be back already,’ she insisted.

  Ben sighed. He could understand why Melanie was so worried for her sister. Sarah’s working day should have finished some hours ago and she had promised to return to the tent by early evening. The full moon would rise tonight and it would be the first real test of the cure that Sarah, James and the doctor, Helen Eastgate, had devised.

  Ben had to admit that he was nervous too. He wasn’t alone. Levels of uneasiness within the camp had been growing steadily throughout the day. Now you could almost taste the scent of fear in the cool, evening air. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘We’ll go and look for her. Let me fetch my coat.’

  He didn’t really need his coat in this mild weather, but it helped to mask the body odour that clung to his shirt and undergarments. Like most other people in the camp, he had not been able to bathe or shower, or wash his clothes properly, in weeks. Some folk had taken to washing in the ornamental lake of the hotel grounds, but with the lake being used for drinking water, that had been discouraged by the authorities. Melanie’s solution to the problem was eau de parfum. Like him, she was still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she left London – red leather jacket, black jeans and black boots. She had lost weight in recent weeks, and the jacket now hung loosely on her slender frame. They had all shed a few pounds. Yet somehow Melanie managed to look more beautiful than ever, her black hair silhouetting her pale skin, her high cheekbones even more pronounced than usual.

  Her temper, however, had not been improved by weeks of living under rationing, in a small tent, in close proximity to unwashed bodies. ‘Come on,’ she snapped, taking him by the hand. ‘I’m done with waiting. Let’s go.’

  ‘What if we miss her, and she finds the tent empty when she returns?’ he asked.

  ‘Then she can wait for us in the tent. She’s not an imbecile.’

  Sarah certainly was no fool. Ben wondered if half the reason for Melanie’s concern was that Sarah no longer seemed to need her in the way she had used to. Since becoming Helen Eastgate’s assistant, Sarah had grown hugely in confidence and independence. She was almost unrecognizable from the timid, terrified woman she had been when they’d first arrived at the camp. Ben was delighted at how well Sarah had overcome her phobia, but Melanie seemed less willing to accept the changed dynamics between her and her sister.

  ‘Just because she doesn’t need you so much, it doesn’t mean you’re not important to her anymore,’ he said to Melanie.

  ‘I never imagined that I wasn’t,’ she replied. ‘That’s not what this is about.’

  ‘Isn’t it?’

  She stopped and whirled to face him. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, the full moon is due to rise any time now, and Sarah is still with those creatures.’

  ‘You mean creatures like James?’

  ‘I do not mean like James. I mean a whole new generation of werewolves that are a complete wildcard. Who knows what they might do?’

  They had discussed this many times before. Sarah had argued so passionately in favour of using James’ blood to treat the sick patients that Melanie had finally agreed to support the project and put her doubts to one side. They had spent days parading around the camp, telling anyone who would listen that James was harmless. They had agreed not to mention the inconvenient occasions when he had ripped out people’s throats and devoured their flesh. ‘He doesn’t do that now,’ Sarah had insisted. ‘That’s all in the past, Melanie. Imagine if I told everyone about the mistakes you’d made, growing up.’

  ‘I sometimes wonder if Sarah actually wants them to turn into full-blown werewolves,’ said Melanie. ‘Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t come home this evening. She’s decided to stay and watch them turn. You know she has a secret death wish.’

  ‘She does not,’ said Ben. ‘That’s an absurd thing to say.’

  ‘Is it? You don’t know her as well as I do. She’s always had dark thoughts, ever since childhood. You can’t imagine what she’s thinking underneath that innocent exterior.’

  ‘Sometimes, Melanie, I can’t imagine what you’re thinking.’

  ‘What I’m thinking right now,’ she told him, stressing each word, ‘is that we need to hurry up and find her before anything bad happens. Is that a difficult concept to grasp?’ She broke off her scowling and gave him a sweet smile, reaching out to take hold of his hand. ‘Come on, you know you always agree with me in t
he end.’

  He flashed her a grin. ‘All right. I’m coming.’

  The moon was almost peeping above the treeline as they made their way across the camp. Its white light already touched the night sky with a cool sheen. The air was still and quiet, as if the entire camp was holding its breath, waiting to see what would unfold. Ben quickened his pace, seized by a sense of foreboding.

  They had almost reached the hotel itself when the shouting began. Inside the building, it sounded like all hell was being let loose. Melanie shot him an I told you so look, and dragged him inside.

  The reception area of the hotel was as luxurious as the dining rooms and private areas, despite the military presence. Marble pillars, gilt-framed mirrors and crystal chandeliers made an opulent background to the chaotic scene that was now playing out. The hallway was full of activity, with armed soldiers rushing back and forth. A team of four heavily-armed infantrymen had taken up position in front of the double doors that led to the ballroom. The guard who should have been on duty at the entrance had abandoned his post to join them, allowing Ben and Melanie to enter without hindrance.

  They watched, taking in the scene, as screams erupted from behind the polished wooden doors. ‘Charlie Fireteam, watch and shoot,’ ordered the team commander. The doors burst open and wolves rushed through, surging into the plush hallway, snarling and biting at the troops stationed there.

  Automatic rifles opened fire, tearing into furry bodies, spattering blood and bringing beasts crashing to the ground. But the wolves had numbers and crashed through the defensive fire, slashing at the soldiers and biting deep into their necks. The first group of soldiers went down in seconds.

  Ben grabbed Melanie and dragged her through an open doorway. He slammed it shut behind them. Back in the hallway, on the other side of the door, more shots rang out, but they were single shots or quick bursts, few in number and didn’t last long. A savage howl and shriek brought the attack to a quick end.