by James McCann
“I am among those who wish to see Heaven.”
-Wulfsign
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Alix chased after Rellik without grabbing a jacket. The cool winds outside had grown stronger and chillier. Her teeth chattered from the cold, but she didn’t want to lose him. Though she didn’t know why.
“I’m sorry,” she called, in the hope her voice might carry itself over the wailing winds. “My friends are all jerks.”
Rellik didn’t respond, nor did he slacken his brisk pace.
His wide shoulders tensed, his head bowed, and though he had tucked his hands within deep pockets, she knew he clenched them into tight fists. Another charge of wind hit Alix, tearing through her thin silk blouse. She eyed his heavy leather jacket with envy and wondered how much longer she could pursue him.
“C’mon, Rellik! I’m trying to be friends with you!”
He stopped. It appeared that her words had touched him, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t even face her. She walked behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
“Look, I know you haven’t been made to feel welcome. But then, you haven’t acted like you want to be, either.”
Still he said nothing. In the darkness he slowly turned to face her, taking her hand in his. She shook from the cold–mostly from the cold. The look on his face had become so intense that Alix wanted to hold him. He didn’t smile when he at last let her hand free. She wondered what he was going to do.
But this time the unknown brought no fright into her heart, and as the half-smile returned to his dark face she knew she was safe. He removed his leather jacket and placed it around her.
The bitter wind blew Alix’s hair over her distraught face. She pulled Rellik’s oversized jacket closer around herself, her hair blowing across her vision.
Alix watched him leave, without a word, into the darkness. Outside Mr. Chips, the cold wind whistled in her ears and nipped at her nose. She’d lost track of the time. She wondered, as she pulled open the restaurant door, if she would find her friends still inside.
She was not entirely relieved when she did. Simon and Betty were discussing “that psycho” while tending to Carl’s wound. It didn’t appear that any of them recalled that Rellik hadn’t started the fight. Or, that he had left so it would not continue.
How convenient, she thought.
Betty leaped from her seat to Alix. “You’re wearing that freak’s jacket? Look what he did to your boyfriend!”
Alix bit her lip and rubbed the bottom of her nose. She sighed and saw Fred sitting alone in another booth. She drew from his strength and glared at Betty.
“Did you happen to notice what Carl was doing? I’ve had it with this peer pressure to be just like all of you!”
“Really? And whose friend are you now, the geek or the freak?”
Alix slapped her hard and said coldly, “You’re a bitch.”
Simon jumped in the middle. “Whoa! I’m all for a cat fight and all, but this is one we’ll all regret in the morning.”
Betty never took her eyes off Alix. “Simon, move so I can kick her ass!”
“C’mon, Betty. Let’s just sit and talk.”
Betty turned her glare on him. When he wouldn’t budge, she grabbed her coat and stormed out.
Simon turned to Alix, shook his head, and helped Carl up. As they left Mr. Chips, Carl said to Alix, “This ain’t over!”
Alix walked to Fred, who was grinning, as if pleased by the fallout of her foray into popularity.
“Congratulations,” he said.
Alix looked at him and grimaced. “For what?”
“Freedom to make your own choices, for one. Did you really think you’d ever fit in with a bunch of robots?”
Fred pushed the tray of food he had set out before himself nearer her. On it were her usuals, cheeseburger and chocolate shake.
“I just wanted to know how it would feel to be like everyone else,” she whispered.
“Now you know. It sucks.” He examined her thoughtfully and said, “He gave you his jacket. Can I assume you’ve made some progress?”
“No,” she answered, before picking at her burger. “And I don’t know why I care. He just left without saying a word.”
“I must admit, he frightened me earlier. He has such rage inside him that I don’t think it’s a good idea to put yourself in the middle of it. There must be something about his past that’s making him act like this.”
“Well, I give up,” Alix said, with a long sigh.
“I think that would be best. The safest choice for us all.”
Alix smiled and lifted her shake to her lips. Before taking a long sip of the cool liquid, she said, “You talk funny, you know that?”
Fred, too, smiled. His secret desire that Betty might change was cast into doubt tonight. He might have had his eyes on her for what seemed like forever, but sometime during the summer she’d become Simon’s girl. And, from what he’d heard, Simon had given her a lot more than just his heart. Fred wished he could show her his feelings, genuine and real. But that was a hope the torrential rains of reality slowly weathered away.
A late-model Chevy van was the sole vehicle parked in the camping lot of Sunset Park. In the summer months the lots were full of families from the city visiting Minitaw for a taste of small town life before they headed back to their bustling lives. Tonight, as the air turned so crisp that the wind crackled in Bruce’s ears, the camping lots were empty, dark and desolate.
Bruce held a case of syringes tightly as he walked back to the late-model Chevy van that he had called home these last ten years. It was often dangerous work to get the blood of a vampyre, but for his mentor he would risk anything. As Bruce approached the van, its sliding door opened and a teenage boy leaped out.
“Good work, Bruce,” the boy said. “One day your work will save scores of people.”
Bruce caught a glimpse of himself in the van’s side-view mirror, and quickly looked away. Crow’s feet around his eyes, thinning hair atop his scalp, and wrinkles across his forehead reminded him that time was marching on–yet for Pyre, his mentor, time stood still. Bruce met Pyre’s tired eyes beneath the shadow of a bolero hat as he handed him the case. The boy took out one syringe and squeezed its contents into his mouth. He did this again and again, until all five were empty. The vampyre blood was key to the magic of his youth.
“The werewolf we seek is here,” Bruce told him, looking away in disgust at what he witnessed.
“He is the one, Bruce. The one who killed your parents.”
“Then he is the one you hunt as well?”
Pyre nodded, squeezing his hands as the vampyre blood surged through him. After letting out a long breath, he reached into the van and took out a guitar case. Opening it he took out an old Yamaha acoustic, and began strumming a song quietly. Bruce let him be, and rummaged in the back of the van with swords, guns, and body armor. He wondered why this wolf concerned himself so much with this one vampyre. Why didn’t he confront Pyre, who was a much worthier adversary?
“Bruce, you alone can save millions. You are salvation,” Pyre said, interrupting Bruce’s thoughts.
“Tonight I vow that I will save hundreds, even if I must sacrifice dozens to do so,” Bruce said, after he’d finished changing his gear.
Bruce was grateful that Pyre had found him when he was just a teenage boy hunting on his own without any direction or understanding of the danger he hunted.
“I will do you proud this night,” Bruce said. “I won’t fail.”
“The wolf who killed your birth parents is out there tonight, Bruce. I am beginning to think you don’t really want him dead. Is that why you allow him to add more victims to his carnage?”
“I will not allow him to continue to mock me.” Bruce didn’t like it when Pyre spoke to him that way, but he had to accept that as long as the werewolf lived Pyre was right. “Tonight, I will end his carnage and send a message to all unholy beasts! Tonight will be MY VENGEANCE!”
; Bruce slammed the side door of the van shut and ran back into the night. As he disappeared from Pyre’s sight, he heard the song Enter Sandman strummed from Pyre’s guitar.
Derrick sat near the river that cut through Sunset Park. He stared up into the starry night. Behind him, trees stood tall as a barrier, shielding him from the road where cops often drove past. Seven of his gang stood about, each one a warrior waiting for a command from their leader. A leader whose focus was on the brilliant Northern Lights.
This was not his last year of high school. He’d been held back twice now, and no doubt would be held back again this year. He’d decided to leave, to go farther north and find work that didn’t require a high school education What was the point in staying?
But first there was one thing he needed to do.
Nathan emerged from the woods, “Carl left. There were just too many cops comin’ by to kick his butt.”
Derrick stayed stoic, the sound of the rushing river filling his ears. His good hand he held tight in a fist; the broken one lay in his lap.
“Tomorrow, then. Tomorrow we’ll do the town a favor . . .”
“Perhaps,” said a man, unknown to any of the boys, “you can do the town a favor tonight.”
The man stepped out from the night to stand but a few feet from Derrick. He was tall, muscular and broad-shouldered. Bigger than any Mr. Universe bodybuilder. A sword was strapped to his back, a gun holstered at his waist and a machete slung across his chest. Derrick did not look at him, did not move; he only smiled and spoke.
“What the fuck you want?”
The giant laughed a deep throaty chuckle. He spread his arms wide and said, “I am your salvation!”
Derrick stood as his gang circled the giant. “My salvation? You think I can’t kick your ass?” He stepped forward just as a wind started to stir among the poplar trees. “You think I’m scared just ’cause you come armed?”
“Do you wish to save thousands?”
Nathan rushed the giant from behind, but was knocked out cold by one sweep of the stranger’s arm. Two others rushed in, to be as quickly subdued by a side-kick and punch. The giant wasn’t even winded.
Before any more of Derrick’s gang stepped up, the leader shouted, “Enough!”
The giant slowly pulled his sword from its sheath as he held Derrick’s glare. Derrick knew he was in trouble, but he wasn’t about to show it. He took out his knife and puffed out his chest. No one was going to make a fool out of him!
Then he heard Rellik, behind him, say, “Derrick, this is not your fight.”
Derrick stepped sideways to keep both the giant and Rellik in his view. Both of them had swords at the ready. Both were poised to fight. Before anyone could fully process what was going on, the two strangers to this town ran at one another and clashed swords. They fought hard and fast, metal sparking against metal beneath a shower of Northern Lights.
The three of Derrick’s gang who hadn’t got knocked out picked up the three who had. They rushed to Derrick and grabbed his arm, pulling him from the fray. Derrick freed himself from his buddy’s grasp as Rellik took a gash in the side and fell to the grass. Without thinking, Derrick threw his knife as hard as he could, hitting the giant in the shoulder, and stopping a blow that would have gone straight through Rellik’s chest.
And just as he did, just as the giant fell a few steps back and dropped his sword, Rellik shapeshifted into a wolf and bounded away into the woods.
The giant followed fast behind him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alix opened her eyes as a chill breeze enveloped her. She lay on her bed, tucked deep within her blankets, dressed in warm flannel pajamas. Brisk air crawled into the bed with her, even though the bedroom window was closed. As Alix shrugged off sleep’s iron grasp, she wondered why she was suddenly growing cold. She pulled her comforter tighter around herself, closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
“Look into the orb!” bellowed a raspy voice, as the chill air lifted her blankets from her.
Alix woke fully and froze in terror. Where had that voice come from? Was she still asleep? Was this a dream, one so vivid that she felt awake? It had to be, didn’t it?
Normal people didn’t hear voices! It is a dream, Alix reassured herself. She held her eyes shut, unable to keep her body from shaking.
Then, sitting up, Alix breathed deeply. She thought of how warm her blankets were when she was deep inside them, and how safe she felt when she was asleep inside her room. What she was experiencing was only a nightmare. If she thought hard enough she could easily pull herself from it. Right?
Wrong.
Alix opened her eyes. She was in a tiny, cubicle of a room with no windows or doors. Her mind felt dizzy, as if the room had begun to spin. To keep steady she braced her palms on her bed. But her bed slowly sank into the clammy floor, leaving her sitting upright on it. A mist formed in the air around her, the cold water droplets swirling about like stars. As they spun, they crashed into one another and stuck together, until there was only one crystal ball-shaped orb hovering above her lap.
Tears welled in her sleepy eyes as she buried them in her palms. How, she wondered, can I stop this nightmare from continuing?
She held her head high. Her breathing was heavy and her heart raced. A gnarled arm burst from the floor beside her and grabbed the orb. Alix screamed and moved away from it, but the wall slammed against her back, pushing her to the orb. Alix bit her lip and peered inside.
A girl her age, wearing spandex so tight it looked as if it had been painted on her thin legs, stared at the stars while picking flowers by the road. She carried a short red leather jacket adorned with long tassels, though Alix could see by her puffy breaths that the air was cold.
When Alix glimpsed the girl’s face she whispered, “Betty,” and her eyes swelled with tears.
“Look into the orb,” the cold, raspy voice demanded. Alix chose to obey rather than risk its unknown wrath.
Alix caressed the cold glass. She watched her best friend meet a stranger blocked from recognition by dark shadows. He and Betty spoke with one another as though they were acquaintances. Betty reacted as her usual, flirtatious self. The stranger took her hand into his. They walked off the trail into some bushes. He kissed her, and she grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. As their lust created a fire strong enough to warm them, their coats fell to the ground.
The stranger stopped kissing Betty and lifted his face upward, as if to look directly at Alix. Red eyes burned through the mist, but the haze still obscured his face. Alix wondered who he might be.
But before she could scream a warning, fog encased the picture and all she heard was a cry of terror.
Alix pushed the orb away, unable to bring herself to look back into it. She whispered over and over, “This is only a dream.” But even when she pinched herself she could not wake.
A light grew and shrank from the orb, as if it beckoned her to see what had happened. She didn’t know what to do. She relaxed only when she rubbed the bottom of her nose. She had decided to give in when she heard the faint ring of a telephone.
Closing her eyes tight, she concentrated with all her strength on the telephone. As the ring grew louder, Alix feared the ball would call to her. As the darkness fell upon her, as if to crush her, she . . .
Woke up.
Terrified at how real the vision of Betty’s demise had been.
Alix shook off the grotesque nightmare and realized that her phone really had been ringing. She reached over the side of the bed to where she had left it earlier that evening, and took a moment to glance at the clock. 3:17 a.m.
“Hello?”
“Alexandria?” her best friend’s mother said on the other end. “May I speak with my daughter?”
“Ms. Black?” Alix asked, trying to stall for time.
“Yes, Alix. Is Betty there?”
“No, we were all at Mr. Chips, but we didn’t leave together. I think she walked home with Simon.”
“Okay,” Ms.
Black said, fear strong in her short response.
Alix said goodbye and hung up the phone. She considered for a moment calling Simon or Carl, but that would mean accepting that her dream was real. Climbing out of bed, she walked to her Pooh Bear and cuddled into its lap, where she spent the rest of this restless night.
Alix stared past the timetable that hung inside her locker. She had already taken out her Math and Lit texts, but at least ten minutes remained before first period, and she wanted to wait for Betty.
“Hey,” a voice said from behind. Alix spun and saw it was Carl. He didn’t look at her. He stood straight with a rigid jaw. When he spoke, he did so matter-of-factly, and it made Alix nervous. “Have you seen Betty?”
“Why?” Alix closed her locker door and rubbed the bottom of her nose. “You know, I wasn’t even aware we were still speaking.”
“You know what? I was drunk last night. That’s my excuse for acting like a jerk, so what’s yours?”
Alix could hear Betty telling her to just give in to Carl. She wanted to go to the dance, to be asked by the most popular guy in school, and to have just one normal year of high school. But for the love of God, this boy was not worth it.
“Hey,” Simon jumped in before Alix could answer. “Betty’s mom phoned my house last night. Betty never came home.”
“She phoned me, too,” Alix started to say but stopped. Had her dream been real? Had she watched Betty die? “I have to go. I have Lit class.”
“There’s a rumor about another wolf attack last night,” Simon muttered.
Alix felt tears well in her eyes. She hurried away. Now she knew her nightmare was real. She’d seen what had happened. She wanted to talk to Fred, to throw her arms around him and cry, but she couldn’t. She could never tell him, because of his emotional attachment to Betty. Even though she needed to open her heart as she never had before, she’d have to go through this alone.
“Hey, Alix, wait up!” It was Simon.
She stopped, feeling a tear escape her eye.
