Howling Dead

by M. H. Bonham

  Not yet, but he will be, Alaric said. I’ll have Murphy clean him up so no one finds his body.

  Now Kira really trembled. You’ll kill him in cold blood?

  He’s a rogue wolf, Kira, he said. He nearly raped you. Anyway, there’s not much point to his life anymore now that you’ve done a field neuter.

  There are laws and prisons, she said.

  Not for us, Alaric said. What kind of jail would hold a werewolf? And if they managed to, the moment a full moon rose, we would be discovered.

  Kira blinked. Then, there is nothing you can do?

  We kill him and cremate the body. Look, he’s already changing back.

  Kira looked to see the faint glow of the transmutation. The wolf features began to slowly give way to human features. As she watched, she saw a pocked-faced boy with sandy hair and glassy gold eyes stare blankly ahead. He’s barely nineteen.

  He’s eighteen.

  She turned back to Alaric. You know him?

  Cindy Jones’ kid. Running with the wrong pack. He paused. Don’t tell me you feel sorry for him. He nearly raped you.

  I don’t feel sorry, she said. I just didn’t expect him to be so young.

  Alaric shrugged. I’ll have Murphy come clean him up.

  Not Murphy, she said. I don’t trust him.

  He grinned. I don’t trust him either. He knows I don’t and therefore is trustworthy—to a point. He paused. Let’s get you home. I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night.

  We’ve got to get my clothes, she said.

  A glint entered his eyes, but he turned away. I’ll escort you.

  K

  Spaz awoke to darkness. Blindfolded and gagged, his arms behind his back hurt terribly and he was terribly thirsty. Where was he? What was going on?

  It wasn’t the cops or the FBI. Those stiks didn’t do this to you unless you were a terrorist. While Spaz had been called many things, terrorist wasn’t among them. He lay for a while listening to his heart pound in his ears. Something had hit him, knocked him down and bit him hard. His arm felt swollen and bruised from the bite. It could’ve been Cathal, but he didn’t know if Cathal had a big dog.

  Spaz replayed the attack in his mind. He didn’t remember much of it; he’d been knocked unconscious when he hit the ground. His headset was gone and his palm top was probably smashed into thousands of pieces. He had to get into the Enchanted Forest and get help—even if it meant revealing its secrets. He had to get a message to Kira...

  He heard noises and then the sound of a door opening. Two men were talking; one sounded vaguely familiar. Someone grabbed him and hauled him up so that he was sitting at the edge of something—a table? The gag was pulled out of his mouth.

  “We want the encryption codes for the Forest,” the familiar voice said without preamble.

  “Bite me,” Spaz said. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The Enchanted Forest—you wrote the code.” The other voice was deeper and rough.

  “Sorry, you got the wrong one.”

  “Bullshit, Spaz,” said the familiar voice.

  “Randy?”

  “Yeah, now give us the code.”

  “Bite me.” Spaz spat. “You got some water?”

  “They ain’t playing games, Spaz-boy. And I’d be careful who you tell to bite you.”

  Spaz heard growling. The two men grabbed him and cut the duct tape bonds. “Hold him tight!” Randy said.

  He struggled to no avail. They pulled his right hand out and for a split second, he felt hot breath on his arm before the jaws clamped down.

  CHAPTER 23

  They set out of the alleyway toward LoDo, not far from Kira’s apartment. Kira tried to recall the exact alleyway, delaying them with two false alarms. Alaric didn’t seem annoyed or angry with the delay; he seemed to be enjoying her company. Despite herself, Kira felt as attracted to Alaric in his wolf form as she had in his human form. There was something charismatic about him that made her wonder. He seemed at ease as a leader—whether in charge of the Denver wolfpack or as a CEO.

  Not a CEO, she told herself. A king.

  Here in Denver, Colorado, trotting beside a werewolf, Kira could still envision Alaric Kerr in his human form, looking like the long-lost heir to some medieval kingdom. In her mind’s eye, she envisioned him in chainmail, riding a warhorse and leading knights into battle. She grinned at the thought.

  What’s so funny? asked Alaric, interrupting her reverie.

  Nothing, she said. Just thinking how odd it is to have a werewolf escort.

  Before he could respond, she halted at the alleyway and squinted. She could just make out a cardboard box behind the Dumpster. This is it. Hang on a moment, my clothes are there, she said.

  Are you sure now? he asked.

  Pretty sure, she said. She trotted in and noted that he waited at the entrance, turning around to give her some privacy. She slipped behind the dumpster and nosed the box. Her clothes were in it. Quickly, she transformed back into a human and slid her clothing on.

  She noted that he hadn’t turned around, and she chuckled. She had half expected him to look, after all. Well, well, she thought, you are a gentleman.

  “I’m dressed,” she said, not loudly, because she knew he could hear her.

  Good. Let’s get going, Alaric said. I’ll get you home safely, but promise me that you won’t come out again without contacting me first.

  “Why?” Kira whispered.

  Because whomever attacked you is still around and is looking to finish what he started, Alaric said gravely. I suspect he knows you recognize him. Don’t go out at night without me.

  Kira stared. “But I have a life.”

  Yes, but until I find him, promise me that you will call me before you go out at night. Kira, I don’t want you hurt.

  He licked her hand and she knelt down to look into his gold eyes. They nearly melted her. “All right,” she said. “I will.”

  Good, he said. Let’s get you home.

  They started walking toward Kira’s apartment. Kira was silent, contemplating. In one night as a werewolf, she had seen a man murdered, and had been chased by Susan’s murderer, had been attacked by five werewolves, was nearly raped, had seen a young werewolf’s throat torn out, and had been saved by a very enigmatic man. No... werewolf, she reminded herself. Alaric was as much a werewolf as the creatures who attacked her. She shivered.

  Alaric looked up at her as they walked, studying her with his gold eyes. If he noticed her trembling, he didn’t say anything. It’s probably best, she thought. She didn’t want him to know just how confused she really was.

  At last, they arrived at her apartment. They stood for a long time in silence; the only light was from the nearly full moon and the streetlamps. Even as a human, she found herself strangely attracted to Alaric. He was handsome in both human and wolf forms. Maybe it was because they were both werewolves. Maybe she was crazy...

  “I’m very tired,” she said lamely.

  I know, Alaric said. Go inside, pretty one. Call me tomorrow.

  “I don’t have your number.”

  You can reach me at The Grey Wolf.

  Kira hesitated and then knelt beside him. He licked her face and she kissed him on the muzzle. “Thank you,” she whispered as she buried her head into his black fur.

  Go, my Kira, he said. I will see you tomorrow.

  Kira nodded and stood up. She entered her apartment and unlocked the door. Before she walked inside, she glanced back toward where Alaric had been. The large black wolf had vanished into the night.

  Kira stumbled into her apartment. She sagged into her computer chair and stared at the scrolling numbers that flashed on the screen. She knew they were IP addresses, but her exhausted mind didn’t comprehend them. They’d have to wait until morning, she decided. She pulled herself up, made sure the door was locked, and stumbled into bed.

  Kira lay in bed for a while, too tired to move but too exhausted to sleep. Instead, her mind repla
yed the night’s events. She trembled as she replayed the rogue wolves’ brutal attack. Chances were, she would’ve been raped, killed, or both, had Alaric not appeared. She was too tired to be terrified at the night’s events—she reserved that emotion for the morning, when she would be lucid. Right now, she was still under the throes of the lycanthropy even though she was no longer a wolf.

  Kira stared up at the ceiling, watching the moonlight play through the mini-blinds. The call of the moon was still there, but was waning. She could control the urge to turn into a wolf now, but her mind was still part wolf. Being a werewolf wasn’t just a nuisance, it was downright dangerous—and she knew she couldn’t rely on Alaric to protect her forever. She had to figure out a way to control it, or risk another episode like what happened tonight.

  Despite her horror at seeing Alaric kill the rogue wolf, there had been a sense of justice served. Alaric was right—how could the werewolves hide their own once one ended up in prison? They were likely to be noticed among the normal human population again—and not kindly. Perhaps people were more tolerant of other minorities, but how tolerant would people be of werewolves?

  Kira wondered what her own reaction would’ve been before she had become a werewolf. Having a neighbor who could afflict you with lycanthropy with a nibble didn’t make her feel all that charitable. She didn’t think that she would be sympathetic to anyone who moved in once her neighbor’s pets—or kids—started disappearing after dark. On the other hand, the stock for flea and tick collars would go up, she thought wryly. She’d invest in some pet company’s stock, make a million, and retire.

  Her addled mind turned back to Alaric. If there were one thing that would keep her lycanthropic, it had to be him. He was charismatic both as a man and a wolf. He awoke feelings within her that Kira had thought long since buried. If she had to pick the perfect man, Alaric would come close. With one exception: he was a werewolf.

  You’re a werewolf too, the wolf part of her reminded herself.

  I wasn’t born to this, Kira replied to the wolf. Not like Alaric. I was bitten, remember?

  It doesn’t matter, the wolf said. You are now a werewolf.

  Kira was too tired to argue. She fell asleep.

  CHAPTER 24

  The phone rang and jolted Kira awake. She groaned as it rang a couple more times, and then the computer picked it up, silencing it. She groaned again and covered her head with her pillow, trying to squeeze the daylight out.. Damn telephones, she thought. I should set it to pick up on the first ring instead of the third.

  As she woke slowly, her mind went back to the events of the night before. She had nearly been raped—in wolf form, to be sure—but nearly raped. She was puzzled by her lack of response to it. As a human, she’d be in need of some serious counseling that her COBRA insurance wouldn’t cover—no doubt—and she’d be a mental wreck. Instead, the werewolf part of her was slowly changing her response. Okay, so she was nearly raped, but Alaric was there and got her out of it. No problem. It might have been a problem if he hadn’t been there, but she’d bitten off the wolf’s testicles.

  Again, no response. It was like she had seen a movie about it, or dreamt it; she wasn’t feeling the way she should. Kira puzzled over it for a while. The wolf was changing her; making her less vulnerable—and less human. She knew she should be horrified by this, but she wasn’t. Everything was as it should be. Only it wasn’t.

  Instead of pondering this new experience further, Kira’s mind went to work on the algorithm for setting up the phone to ring only once between the hours of midnight and ten AM. It was a simple algorithm, really, and she was surprised why she hadn’t done it before. All it took was getting the time function from the system clock and setting a loop to pick up on the first ring or the third ring.

  “Oh hell,” she muttered, tossing the pillow aside and pulling herself out of bed. She slid into the jeans she had worn for three days straight and a Star Trek t-shirt. “Resistance is futile,” she repeated. “I have already been assimilated—but not before coffee.” Once her mind got to working on a problem, she couldn’t shut it off. She walked into the kitchen, started a pot of coffee (the last of Susan’s Starbucks roast) and walked to the computer.

  As she sat down, she stared at a window on the computer filled with IP addresses. “What the...?” she said, and glanced at the addresses her program came up with as possible entrances to the Enchanted Forest. There were well over a hundred of them. Kira groaned. She’d have to visit each one and see—assuming the little webcrawler bot she created had done its job properly. At this point, a bot couldn’t do what she needed to do—and that was figure out which were really entrances and which were traps. If she knew Spaz, he would’ve put traps all along the gateways.

  “Damn it, Spaz, I’m not a spider,” she grumbled. She was good, but she hadn’t dedicated her life to the cyber equivalent of breaking and entering. Her job had always been to keep the spiders out—not to become one. She did that with good firewalls, tough passwords, and shutting doors where the security weaknesses were. In theory, the safest computer was one that was never hooked up to the Internet, but that just wasn’t practical.

  Kira typed in the address for the Denver Wolfpack and clicked on the message boards. She entered “Enchanted Forest” and “Yellow Brick Road” in the search engine (powered by Google) on the website and came up with nothing. After clicking through various webpages, it became obvious that what she was looking for wasn’t there. She decided instead to check the links.

  The links were as useless as the webpages. She pulled up Google and entered “Enchanted Forest.” The webpages came up with the typical Disney stuff. She found a growl issuing from her throat. She got up and poured herself a mug, then sat back down at the computer, sipping the coffee. She smiled wryly and entered “Enchanted Forest” and “werewolf.”

  At the top of the search was “Rogue Wolf—the Website for Renegade Werewolves.” Kira clicked on it and stared at the site.

  What came up made her hackles rise. The site was a flash intensive and featured a movie of a werewolf mauling a human. She quickly clicked on Skip Intro, stood up, and walked away from the computer.

  Kira paced for a while, wringing her hands. What in the hell were these people? she asked herself. The flash was far too reminiscent of her own attack. How could anyone be so perverse as to find that even interesting or enjoyable? If it had been a website on her server, she would’ve shut it down long ago. She sat back down and typed whois www.roguewolf.com at the prompt. The whois record showed that the website was hosted by Intermountain.

  “‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ said Alice,” Kira mused. Was Spaz wrong about Oz or was there something else she wasn’t getting? She clicked on the message boards and scrolled through them. One user’s post caught her eye.

  Subject: KILL ALL THE MONKEYS!

  Author: Wolfbane

  “Wolfbane?” she mused. Was that the Wolfbane who’d sent her the email message that had ended up in the Intermountain Telecom black hole? She opened the message and stared at the words in horror.

  For too long we’ve been the victims of the monkeys. It’s about time we make the monkeys the victims. Too bad we didn’t kill the last one—the bitch is one of us now. See you on the yellow brick road.

  — Wolfbane

  Kira stared at the post for a while and then scrolled through the responses.

  Subject: Re: KILL ALL THE MONKEYS!

  Author: Fangtooth

  Yeah, Wolfbane! Kill em all!

  Subject: Re: KILL ALL THE MONKEYS!

  Author: GreyWolf

  Weres rock! Down with Monkeys!

  Subject: Re: KILL ALL THE MONKEYS!

  Author: Southpaw

  Let’s kill them all. Freedom is at paw.

  Kira scrolled through the postings. They were mostly “me-too” postings and anti-human blather. The reference to her survival frightened her—this Wolfbane must have been the same one who had written her a few days ago. Somehow, Wolfbane k
new Kira—and had something to do with the attack on her and Susan. He might have even been the wolf who had attacked them. Kira thought about it a while. Maybe Alaric would recognize the name.

  Thank goodness Alaric is in charge of the Denver Wolfpack, she thought. Otherwise, there might be an all-out war between humans and werewolves. She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of the coffee. The werewolves would lose, of course; there weren’t as many werewolves as there were Normals. She wondered what would happen then. Persecution of werewolves again, just as there had been in the Dark Ages? She shivered. No, Alaric was right to hide his people from the Normals.

  But what she found curious was Wolfbane’s reference to the yellow brick road.

  Yellow brick road. What in the hell is that? she thought. She typed out a message to Spaz:

  S –

  We’ve got to talk. What’cha say today? What does your PDA look like?

  — K

  Kira sent the message and sat back in her chair for a bit, then remembered the phone call. She glanced at the time on the monitor and realized it was later than she thought. Ten o’clock. She grimaced. The phone call had come at nine. She clicked the voicemail message.

  “Hello, Ms. Walker? This is Officer Walking Bear. We found a wolf prowling around not far from your apartment. I need you to come down to Animal Control and identify the animal.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Kira felt shaky as she listened to the message. Could the police have caught the rogue wolf—or one of the rogue wolves who attacked her?

  “I was also wondering if you’d like to have lunch with me,” James Walking Bear’s message continued.

  Kira grinned as she wrote down the phone number and called him back. They agreed to meet by 11:00—plenty of time for lunch. She’d identify the wolf and the police would do the rest. It would be so simple. She jotted down the address and frowned. Animal Control was on Jason Street, south of Denver proper. Kira frowned—she didn’t have a car. She went to the mass transit website to see when RTD ran their buses.