by Cheree Alsop
“He was spreading the plague. I don’t know how sweet that is,” Aleric replied.
He looked out the window as they drove past Pasta-Pocalypse. He could see Perry sitting at a table with his head in his hands and his top hat on the table. Even the Horseman’s glow had a dejected cast to it.
“It’s sweet that he’s so passionate about it. It’s obvious how much it means to him,” Lilian replied. “How nice would it be to feel so certain about your path in life?”
Aleric stared at her. “His path is one of the Four Horsemen. You said it yourself. He’s a bringer of plagues and pestilence, whether Fabian had anything to do with this or not. He heralds the Apocalypse.”
Lilian was quiet for a moment before she said, “Pasta-Pocalypse.”
That brought a laugh from Aleric. Lilian laughed as well. When she quieted, she glanced at him. “So are you saying that a person can’t go against their nature? From what it sounds like, that’s what you’re doing.”
Her words caught Aleric off-guard. He watched the buildings pass out the window. They were smaller on the outskirts of the city. Soon, long stretches of land took off interspersed by small houses and barns.
“You’re right,” he said into the silence.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Lilian replied. “I’m sorry.”
Aleric shook his head. “It’s true. Everything you’ve heard is true. Reginald’s fear is well-founded. Werewolves are volatile and will protect each other no matter who stands in their way. They work for the good of the pack.”
“But you don’t have a pack here,” Lilian said, her words quiet.
“I didn’t have a pack there, either. Not after the other werewolves were killed,” Aleric said. “I’m used to being a lone wolf.”
The silence that settled between them bothered Aleric. He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I don’t know why things got so depressing.”
“You don’t have to pretend like everything is fine,” Lilian replied. At Aleric’s glance, she continued, “It can’t be easy, all of this.” She waved behind her to indicate the busy part of the city they had left. “I can’t imagine waking up and finding myself in some strange city surrounded by demons and who knows what else is out there trying to kill me.”
Aleric gave a half-smile. “The demons are the normal part.”
A little laugh escaped from Lilian. “I’m starting to see your problem.”
That caught Aleric’s attention. “And what’s that?”
“Demons aren’t normal, Aleric.”
A smile spread across his face that he couldn’t keep away.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked. “Loreen told me you got a stake stabbed through your shoulder by a demon and it almost killed you.”
“That’s the first time you said my name,” Aleric replied. “Dr. Wolf’s just a silly title I haven’t even earned. Sometimes it’s nice to just be me.”
Lilian looked at him a moment before she turned to face the road again.
“By the sound of things, you’ve earned the title, Aleric.”
The fact that she went out of her way to say his name again wasn’t lost on him. Aleric sat back in his seat. “I just happen to know more about fae than your father and he gave me a chance because of that.” He was quiet for a moment, then said, “He was kind to me. In Blays, werewolves are judged the moment they are found out; they’re treated with hostility and fear. You saw it on Reginald’s face; that’s how it was every day of my life since I was four.”
Aleric looked out the window. “But your father didn’t do that. He may have been afraid at first when I showed him what I was, but he trusted me and he treated me with the same respect I used for him. I’ve never had that before; I stayed because I wanted to repay that.”
He saw her look at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Dad doesn’t expect repayment,” she said.
Aleric nodded. “Just the same, I’m staying.”
A hush settled between them. Lilian broke it to say, “I’m glad.” At Aleric’s questioning look, she indicated the truck in front of them. “How else am I going to have the chance to search out the Four Horsemen and save plague victims, cure the outbreak, and perhaps halt the coming of the Apocalypse?”
A chuckle escaped Aleric. “That does sound pretty amazing. Now I have to stay.”
Lilian laughed.
Chapter Six
Lilian followed Reginald’s directions past the many warehouses and crops of Barnaby Farms. She guided the car down a dirt road with weeds growing high enough in the middle that they scraped the bottom of her car. The sun was setting through the gray clouds that had gathered above, making a moody counterbalance to the waving strands of wheat and stalks of corn that stretched toward the darkening sky. Several raindrops splatted on the windshield.
Lilian turned the car down the barely-noticeable path that led through the trees. Small leaves clung to the branches and shook in the evening breeze. The trees loomed over the path, their white branches reaching and intertwined. “This is creepy,” she noted.
Her car hit a deep hole and Aleric gritted his teeth against the jolt to his shoulder. “Maybe we should walk from here.”
She nodded. “Good idea. It looks like it only gets worse.”
Aleric took a deep breath by habit as he climbed out of the car. A scent touched his nose amid the atmosphere aroma of the storm. His instincts thrummed. Steel ran through his body and a familiar pit formed in his stomach. “Hold on,” he said.
Lilian paused at his tone. Aleric looked around quickly, but there was nothing to see in the bushes between the trees. The evening light cast a strange glow in the air. Aleric checked the breeze again. The scent had vanished.
“What’s wrong?” Lilian asked.
“Something’s out there,” Aleric replied. “Something Dark fae. But I can’t smell it anymore.”
If Lilian thought him using smell as a warning was strange, she gave no sign of it. She fell in at his side and walked with him along the path.
“How’s your shoulder feeling?” she asked.
“It doesn’t bother me if I don’t breathe,” Aleric replied.
Lilian cracked a smile. “That good, huh?”
Aleric bent down to pick up a stick. When he did so, the scent caught his nose again. His stomach twisted.
“Wait,” he said.
Lilian stopped. Aleric took a few steps forward. The odor grew stronger.
“We’re in trouble,” Aleric said.
He slipped his sling and shirt off, ignoring the pain brought by speed. Before Lilian could ask what was wrong, he stood in wolf form in front of her, his teeth bared and ears held flat against his skull.
Two creatures left the shadow of the trees. Aleric heard Lilian gasp. He couldn’t blame her.
The male gorgons slithered forward; their snake forms wriggled across the grass and weeds with barely a sound. They towered over seven feet tall, arching high on their snake bodies. Each had a double set of arms sprouting from the torso, and their human heads contained the slit yellow eyes of snakes. Their only article of clothing was a dark cloak fastened around the neck to protect their sensitive spines from attack.
The closest one smiled at their fear and his forked tongue darted out from between his needle-like fangs, fangs Aleric knew contained the poison for which the gorgons were feared in Blays.
“Seemssss we have found the Ashssssssstock,” the gorgon said.
Aleric had never fought a gorgon before. They were muscular and quick; tales of their merciless poison and the ability to slowly crush the bones of their victims with their snake bodies were told in Blays. Though Aleric had shared his fair amount of encounters with the Dark fae, he avoided them whenever possible. Yet with Lilian at his side, there would be no running away. Two gorgons against one werewolf was a losing battle, but one Aleric was prepared to fight. He bared his teeth and was about to growl when Lilian surprised him by stepping in front of him. She hefted a branch from the
side of the trail.
“S-stay back!” she demanded, her tone loud to almost hide the quiver of fear in her voice. “I won’t let you hurt him!”
Aleric felt as surprised as the gorgons appeared. No one expected the young woman to react with fight instead of flight. A surge of respect for Lilian’s bravery filled Aleric.
“No senssssssssse in being foolisshshshshsh, girl,” the gorgon said. His tongue slid out again as he tasted the air.
The other slithered to the left. Aleric kept an eye on both of them, looking for a chance to catch the gorgons by surprise. It was his only hope to protect Lilian.
Rain pattered to the ground around them.
“I won’t let you lay a hand on him,” Lilian threatened.
“Try to sssssssssstop usssssss,” the gorgon hissed.
It surged forward.
Aleric darted in front of Lilian. He leapt at the gorgon. His attack caught the creature off-guard. Aleric grabbed the gorgon’s throat in his teeth and used his momentum and weight to drive the creature to the ground. He tore out the gorgon’s throat with a shake of his head. Aleric left the body writhing on the ground.
Lilian struggled to keep the second gorgon at bay with her branch. The gorgon snapped at her arm. His fanged mouth shut millimeters from her flesh when she slammed the branch against the side of his head.
Aleric reached the pair before the gorgon could retaliate. He bit at the creature’s back through its cloak, but the thick fabric kept his fangs from penetrating its skin. The gorgon reached around and grabbed him by his ruff. The creature slammed Aleric to the ground. The pain that coursed through Aleric’s shoulder stole his breath. The gorgon leaned down to bite him.
Fear of the poison and the pain it would bring urged Aleric to run, but the gorgon held him tight. The creature’s fangs glittered with dark liquid as it opened its mouth. Its fingers entwined in Aleric’s thick fur. It pulled the werewolf up to its face and was about to bite down when the branch slammed across the back of the Dark fae’s head.
Aleric dove out of the gorgon’s grasp. Lilian hit it across the face again so hard the gorgon fell backwards. Aleric was on it in an instant. He grabbed its musky flesh in his fangs and tore the reptilian skin with his sharp incisors. Blood gushed into the grass at his paws. He looked around quickly.
He had killed two of the deadly creatures. Aleric knew consequences would follow. Gorgons were minions of Dark fae he had thought he was done with. Their presence said he had not left them far enough behind.
Aleric stepped back in time to see three more gorgons leave the trees. Whoever had sent them through the Rift to search for him wasn’t messing around. Pain from his shoulder pushed at the back of Aleric’s mind, but adrenaline surged through his body, keeping the worst of it at bay.
The rain fell harder.
“What do we do?” Lilian asked.
Aleric glanced up at her. Her face was pale and her hands gripped the branch so hard her knuckles showed white. Rain dripped through her hair and down her face. The fear in her eyes ate at him. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. The gorgons were after him. There was only one thing he could do.
Aleric took off running for the trees. He passed the gorgons and heard all three of them turn to follow.
“Aleric! Wait!” Lilian called.
Aleric ran faster, drawing the gorgons away from her. The first gorgon’s words echoed in his head. ‘We have found the Ashstock.’ They had been looking for him. If he was their target, the least he could do was draw them as far away from Lilian as possible. The only problem was that gorgons were far faster than they looked.
A tail hit Aleric’s side so hard he crashed into a tree. As soon as he fell to the ground, Aleric pushed up to his paws and darted around the trunk. Another tail hit the tree with such force that branches and leaves rained down. The gorgons surged around the trunk. Aleric backed up, attempting to keep all three in sight. The gorgons slithered to each side. Aleric felt a prickling of fear as they surrounded him. He kept his gaze on the one in front.
“Don’t fear usssssssss,” the gorgon said.
“It’ll only hurt for a sssssssssecond,” another hissed.
“Yesssss,” the third gorgon echoed. “Only a ssssssecond.”
Aleric flattened his ears against his skull and let out a growl.
The first gorgon’s mouth opened. His hinged jaw elongated, spreading so wide Aleric’s entire head could fit in the snake man’s mouth. “We were hoping you’d sssssssssay that,” the gorgon hissed.
All three of the gorgons attacked.
Aleric dove a split-second before they reached him. The gorgons on either side collided. Aleric darted to the right of the gorgon in front of him, spun at the last second, and slammed his good shoulder into the gorgon’s. The creature fell to the ground. Aleric knew he had to take out at least one of them to have a chance. He lunged forward with his teeth bared to deliver a killing blow when another gorgon grabbed his back. The creature’s fingers latched onto his fur. He was hauled off his feet.
A searing pain struck Aleric between his shoulder blades. Warmth coursed through his muscles, flowing and writhing like fire. Paralysis followed wherever the poison flowed.
“Fight that, little Ashsssssstock,” the gorgon said.
Aleric twisted in the Dark fae’s grasp and bit deep into the gorgon’s arm.
The creature let out a yell and threw Aleric across the clearing. The werewolf slid to a stop on his side. The gorgons slithered across the grass toward him. It took all of Aleric strength to reach his paws again. He limped forward through the rain, determined to go down fighting and take as many of them with him as possible.
They attacked in a mass, swarming him and pinning him down beneath their writhing bodies. Aleric felt teeth sink into his back and sides. He bit back, tearing musky flesh and hearing the answering yells. As the poison sank in, Aleric felt his body struggling to change back to human. It was an Ashstock’s defense, phasing back to regular form in one last-ditch effort to fight back. The paralysis flooded through his limbs, making his movements sluggish.
A head snaked past his face. Aleric shoved with his legs and grabbed the creature’s neck in his teeth. The gorgon reeled back, pulling Aleric with him. The werewolf bit harder. The gorgon fell backwards. Aleric snapped the creature’s neck between his jaws.
The werewolf tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t respond. A gorgon grabbed him and wrapped him in its long body.
“You’re finishshshshshshed,” the gorgon hissed.
The coils tightened. Aleric let out a yelp of pain at the crushing sensation to his shoulder. He tried to move, to bite, to claw, to do anything to get out of the gorgon’s grasp, but the poison was sinking in. His limbs wouldn’t respond. Though his instincts screamed for him to fight back, Aleric couldn’t do anything as the darkness closed in on his mind.
He looked up to see a face loom above the gorgon’s. White teeth showed in the moonlight before they sunk into the gorgon’s neck. Aleric couldn’t breathe. His eyes closed despite him fighting to keep them open. The last thing he felt was his body changing form.
“Breathe.”
Two facts struck Aleric; the woman’s voice wasn’t Lilian’s and he couldn’t suck in a breath. His lungs felt as though a dragon was standing on his chest. That had only happened once before, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“Come on,” the woman urged. “Don’t give up on me.” She put her hand on his bare chest. The touch of her skin was cold. “Breathe,” she repeated.
It took every ounce of strength Aleric could muster to pull a breath in. He held it for a moment, afraid it would be his last.
“Good,” she said. There was a lilt to her voice that Aleric recognized but couldn’t place. “I gave you the antidote for the gorgon bites. The paralysis will fade soon. Just keep breathing.”
As sensation returned to his body, Aleric realized water was splashing on his face. He opened his eyes to see rain pouring down fro
m a pitch black sky. It pounded on his bare chest. He tipped his head to see a pale face looking down at him. A slight, wry smile touched her lips.
Aleric’s breath caught at the sight of the woman’s pointed teeth.
“Calm down,” she said. “You’re going to undo everything I’ve accomplished.” She shook her head. “You’d think a werewolf who just took on five gorgons and managed to wipe out three of them by himself would be a little steadier in the constitution department.”
Aleric wanted to point out that it wasn’t every day he awoke with his head on the lap of an eerily beautiful vampiress.
Her head jerked up.
“Your human is coming. I’ve got to go.” She stood gracefully, easing his head to rest on the wet grass as she did so.
Aleric tipped his head to see her pick up a cloak from one of the gorgons. She spread it over his naked body.
“You can thank me for that later,” she said. She looked in the opposite direction and trouble filled her gaze. “Promise me one thing, Aleric. Don’t tell anyone about me.”
He tried to speak, but the paralysis still gripped his throat. The fact that she knew his name sent a shiver across his skin.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. She leaned down and touched his cheek. The gesture surprised him with its familiarity and gentleness. “Find me, Aleric.”
“Aleric?” Lilian shouted.
Aleric looked in the direction of her voice. When he tipped his head back, the vampiress was gone.
“Aleric!” Lilian cried out.
He heard her run across the clearing. Lilian fell to her knees next to him. His clothes were clutched in her hand.
“Aleric, are you alright?” she asked. There was fear in her voice. “You killed them all!”
He followed her gaze to the gorgons. The one he had killed lay with its neck in an awkward position. The other two had fang marks in their throats. Blood colored the rain that pooled around the bodies.
Strength was returning far faster than Aleric had thought it would. He could breathe easier and the paralysis was fading, which made the ache in his shoulder return with a vengeance. Apparently being nearly squeezed to death by the massive coils of a gorgon wasn’t doctor recommended. He made a mental note not to tell Nurse Eastwick about it.
