Shimmer (Wicked Woods #2)

by Kailin Gow

  She wandered out. Briony decided that she might as well wait outside. She was not surprised to see Kevin tagging along beside her. Half joking as his answer had been, it was obvious that he was taking the promise to keep her safe seriously. Briony let him kiss her.

  “So, we’re off to see the king,” he said as they parted. “You do take me to some of the most interesting places, Briony.”

  “Disappointed that we aren’t going on our date?”

  “Somehow, I suspect that this is going to be even more interesting.”

  Chapter 17

  Aunt Sophie eventually reappeared wearing practical, dark-colored clothing and carrying a bag. The four of them set off, with Briony, her great aunt and Kevin following behind Jake as he set the pace through the trees.

  The route Briony’s little brother took through the woods was a long one, and Briony quickly found her legs aching. She tried not to complain about it, though Kevin obviously noticed. He shifted form, allowing Briony to ride on his back for much of the rest of the journey. Jake did not shift, but then, Briony guessed that he would probably be worried about losing control. Aunt Sophie certainly watched him closely.

  It took nearly an hour before they arrived at a steep upward slope, covered thickly with trees. There was a kind of path, but it twisted and turned, leaving Briony glad that they had Jake to lead the way. None of them would ever have found this place otherwise. Jake stopped.

  “We’re getting close,” he said. “Your boyfriend should probably change back.”

  Briony nodded and got off Kevin’s back. In seconds, he was standing there, lamenting the fresh tears in his shirt from the shift in forms.

  “Every time.”

  “Come on,” Briony said, taking his hand. “The sooner we get there, the better.”

  They hurried on, rounding another of the switchbacks in the path behind Jake. What Briony saw there made her pause. Ahead lay a dark gash in the earth of the hill, overgrown around the edges, but clear, and deep, and utterly black.

  “The Werewolf King lives in a cave?” Briony asked. It made sense, she supposed. She had a vision of some grizzled middle-aged man, as much animal as human, living in practically Stone Age conditions as he gave in completely to his wolf side.

  Jake laughed. “Not exactly. Just on the other side of it. You’ll see.”

  He led the way towards the cave without any hesitation, but Briony saw that Aunt Sophie was not exactly hurrying to keep up.

  “It would be a good place for a trap,” the older woman said.

  Briony shook her head. “Jake wouldn’t do that.”

  She followed her brother without stopping now. It was dark in the cave, but Kevin was by her side, and it appeared that he could see in the darkness of it well enough. As for Jake, he hurried forward and then came back to them like an overeager puppy desperate to move along. Maybe he was more werewolf than vampire after all.

  It occurred to Briony that, in one way at least, her great aunt was right. Not about Jake, but about how effective this cave would be as a place for a trap. It had twists, and turns, and branching paths that would make it hard for anyone to get through if they did not know the way. It had blind corners that would make it easy for werewolves to defend. It was, in short, a great way of guaranteeing the safety of whatever lay beyond.

  What did lie beyond was enough to make Briony catch her breath as she stepped out into the moonlight. An old mansion stretched at least three floors above, at the end of an exquisitely maintained stretch of lawn. Unlike the place Pietre used as a home, it had a well-cared for look, as though the people who lived there genuinely cared for the place. Lights showed in several of the windows.

  So much for any thoughts of living in caves, Briony thought, as Jake hurried across the lawn. Briony did her best to keep up.

  “Come on,” Jake said, “I know they’ll be glad to see you.”

  If Briony was not entirely sure about that one, she did not have time to voice the sentiment, because Jake was already ringing the doorbell. She looked over to Kevin.

  “They live at the other end of a hidden cave, and they still need a doorbell? Who do they think is going to show up unannounced?”

  “Us?”

  She supposed he had a point there. Along with Aunt Sophie, they joined Jake on the porch to wait. It was about ten seconds before the door swung open, revealing a pleasant-looking, sandy-haired man in his thirties, who wore a pale blue cashmere turtleneck sweater and dark blue jeans. His eyes, Briony noticed, were the kind of yellowish green you got with dogs sometimes.

  “Your majesty,” Jake said. Briony just smiled, masking her surprise. So the Werewolf King was not what she had expected at all. The grizzled woodsman theory flew out the door, because if this was the Werewolf King, he looked more like a member of the local country club than anything.

  “Jake, stop trying to embarrass me.” The man sounded genuinely pleased to see her brother. “I wasn’t sure you’d be back so soon.”

  “I said I would, Josh.”

  “Yes, I guess you did. And you’ve brought guests.” Briony barely caught the faint sniffing of the air. “So we have two humans and,” he looked to Kevin, cocking his head to one side, “another wolf, Jake?”

  “I’m Kevin,” Kevin said, stepping forward to offer a hand for the Werewolf King to shake. “It’s an honor to finally meet you, your majesty.”

  The man shook his head. “I get enough of that from Jake when he’s trying to make fun of me. It’s Josh. Just Josh.”

  “Good to meet you then, Josh.”

  “I don’t think I know your pack, Kevin.”

  There was a slightly uncomfortable moment then, but Kevin recovered well. “I don’t have one.”

  “Well,” Josh said. He seemed to Briony to have that natural charm that some politicians had, “you’re welcome here anyway. In any case, you aren’t exactly a lone wolf, are you? Unless my nose deceives me, this one,” he nodded to Briony, “is your mate.”

  “His what?” The words escaped Briony before she could stop them. “I think you’ve made some mistake. I’m still in school. I’m not exactly ready for-”

  The Werewolf King stopped her with a raised hand. “Relax,” he gestured for Briony and the others to come inside, “it’s just the term we use. The human one would be… girlfriend, I think. And you do have Kevin’s scent on you. He’s obviously marked you as his.”

  “Has he now?” It was Aunt Sophie who spoke this time, giving Kevin and then Briony the kind of look that suggested she was considering saying one of those faintly embarrassing elderly relative things she occasionally took pleasure in. Briony forestalled it with a sharp look at Kevin.

  “What’s going on?”

  Kevin gave her an apologetic glance. “I just wanted Fallon to have a reminder of where we stood.”

  “Which is currently in a werewolf’s hallway,” Aunt Sophie put in, “so perhaps we should finish the introductions before you two have a tiff?” She nodded to Josh. “I’m-”

  “I know who you are, Mrs. Edge.” The Werewolf King seemed very certain of it. “I assume this is your great niece, Briony?”

  “How did you know?” Briony asked.

  “Jake has mentioned you. Please, come through to the living room. Can I get you some refreshments?”

  It all seemed far too pleasant and normal. Briony was fairly sure that it all had to be an act on some level, even though she really couldn’t see how anyone could maintain all this as just an act. Pietre’s suaveness, for example, always came with a slightly wrong note to it, while this just seemed… nice.

  The living room they ended up in had a trio of couches arranged at angles around a fire. The fire had a dog basket in front of it. She sat at one end of that couch with Kevin. Aunt Sophie and Jake took separate ones. No sooner had they done so than a man dressed in a full butler’s outfit came in with glasses of lemonade. Briony took hers gratefully.

  “Will that be all, your majesty?”

  “Yes, than
k you. Could you possibly find the others and send them in?”

  “I believe they are waiting for the opportunity, your majesty. I will send them in directly.”

  It all sounded a bit stiff and formal to Briony’s ears, though she noted that Josh winced slightly each time the man used his title. He didn’t seem very comfortable with it at all.

  ‘The others’ turned out to consist of three werewolves a good deal younger than their king. Only a little older than Briony, in fact. And very familiar with it. Two of them were college age guys, one dressed in preppy fashion and the other much more casually in ripped jeans and a tee shirt. As for the girl, she had very familiar frizzy brown hair and dark eyes that-

  “You?” Briony exclaimed at the sight of the werewolf girl who had attacked her behind George’s Diner. What had her name been?”

  “You.”

  Something very close to a growl rose in the dark-haired girl’s throat, but Josh was suddenly standing in front of her.

  “Carol, calm down please. And apologize to our guest.”

  Carol looked past her king to Briony. “I’m sorry.”

  The words didn’t sound very sincere, but they seemed to calm things down a little. Carol stepped back.

  “So, you have already met Carol,” Josh said. “Do you also know Brian and Channing?”

  Briony nodded. “Though I didn’t know the names.”

  “I’m Brian,” the preppy one said.

  “And Channing is Carol’s twin,” Josh added. “You three know Jake, of course. This is Kevin, another local wolf, and Sophie Edge. You may have heard of her.”

  From the little note of fear that showed in Carol’s eyes, Briony guessed that she had, at least.

  “So these three are…” she prompted.

  Josh shrugged. “My younger siblings. All of the line of Wickham wolves.”

  “The what?” Briony asked.

  The preppy college guy, Brian, answered. “What my brother means is that we’re from an old family of werewolves. Very old. Our family came over on the Mayflower. It’s a very proud lineage.”

  “Like anybody cares,” Carol said.

  Josh shot her a dark look “I care. I just wish that there were more of us left.”

  That did not sound good to Briony’s ears. Apparently, she was not the only one.

  “What happened?” Kevin asked.

  Josh shrugged. “Vampires happened.”

  “We hate vampires,” Carol said.

  “Hate them,” Channing echoed.

  “They’ve been targeting us for a while,” Josh continued, ignoring his younger brother and sister. “It came to a head a few months ago, in the battle where… I got to be king.”

  “You mean where they killed Mom and Dad,” Carol snapped. At another look from her brother, she mimed zipping her mouth closed and shoved her hands into her pockets. Just for a moment, Briony felt some sympathy for her. No wonder she was so angry, if her parents had been killed too.

  “It was a battle with a lot of consequences,” Josh said. “Jake, for example. And there were more humans who got caught up. It wasn’t possible to keep track of what happened to them.” He looked over to Kevin. “Since you are new around here, I assume that you are one of them.”

  Kevin nodded. “So was my brother. He’s a vampire now.”

  “He’s against Pietre though,” Briony added, when it didn’t look like Kevin would.

  “It’s nice to know someone else is,” Josh said after a second. “Though I suspect that’s why you’re here.”

  “If they’re not here to murder us in our beds,” Carol said.

  “Apologize, Carol.” There was nothing pleasant in Josh’s voice this time.

  “I will not.” She stalked from the room.

  “Ignore her,” Josh said with a sigh. “She wasn’t very trusting even before… everything. As for Pietre, you hate him as much as we do, I guess.”

  Briony nodded.

  “Then you are all welcome here.” He looked over to Aunt Sophie. “I suspect there are things even we can learn about killing vampires from you. After all, it takes a lot to bring one to his knees the way-”

  He stopped at a shake of Aunt Sophie’s head.

  “Not here,” she said. “Not now. Not with Briony in the room.”

  Briony opened her mouth to protest, but the Werewolf King nodded. “I can understand that, I suppose. We all have our secrets, and it is late in any case. Let me show you to where you can get some sleep.”

  That sounded very, very good to Briony, and the others followed Josh from the room with almost equal enthusiasm. As she was making her way down the corridor outside the living room though, Carol stepped out of a side door and into her path. The werewolf looked at her with a look that was only a step away from hatred.

  “You might have my brothers and that cute werewolf of yours fooled,” she whispered sharply, “but don’t think I’m so stupid, hunter. I’ll be watching you.”

  Briony thought about replying, thought even about attacking, but there wasn’t really any chance. As quickly as she had stepped out, Carol was gone again.

  Chapter 18

  The next two days were busy ones at the werewolves’ house. They were filled with planning, meetings, and frequent phone calls to gather support. Josh seemed convinced that now was the only moment when they could truly stand against Pietre, and so he was rallying round every werewolf he could find. Aunt Sophie, meanwhile, spent her time either teaching fighting techniques to the werewolves there or keeping in contact with the members of the Preservation Society. They would have a part to play, when the time came.

  In fact, Briony seemed to be the only one there who didn’t have much to do. Even Kevin and Jake were busily involved in the planning stage. For some reason though, Aunt Sophie wouldn’t let Briony get involved, and she had to spend a lot of time either in the opulently appointed bedroom assigned to her or just wandering around the house killing time. Neither kept her interest for very long.

  Brian, the preppy college-aged werewolf brother, seemed to notice, because he went out of his way to make sure that Briony was comfortable. He sat and talked with her, and showed her where the house’s small library was, and was generally just around while the others were off getting ready for whatever it was that would come next.

  If Briony was absolutely honest, there was a slightly uncomfortable edge to the attention. She almost got the feeling that Brian liked her. Really liked her. It wasn’t exactly something that Briony was looking for from him. Not that Brian wasn’t a great guy, and he had been the one to try to talk down his sister Carol back in the diner, but Briony already had enough problems trying to balance the werewolf and vampire brothers already in her life, without adding anyone else to the mix.

  She didn’t come out and say that, though. Briony was not certain that Brian felt that way about her, for one thing, and she did not want to hurt his feelings if he did. Besides, this was not the time to do anything that might start stirring up conflicts between the hunters and the werewolves. Not when they needed each other so much.

  Maybe the weekend would have been pleasanter had someone thought to tell Carol that too. The female werewolf seemed to be around Briony almost as often as her brother, and it certainly was not to make sure that Briony was all right. More or less the opposite, in fact. Wherever Briony went, Carol would be there, not interfering but obviously watching her. She hardly said two words to Briony the whole time, but her meaning was clear. She did not trust Briony. She certainly did not welcome her into her home.

  Briony did her best to ignore the attention. Carol’s suspicions were only natural, given that Briony was a member of the Preservation Society. Besides, she had some pretty good reasons to be angry with the world. After all, Josh had told them about the death of his parents, and Briony knew as well as anyone what that could do to some people. She could cut Carol some slack, so long as the werewolf girl wasn’t actually a threat.

  Briony did not see as much of Kevin as
she would have liked over the two days they were there. Not through any fault on his part, admittedly. He tried on several occasions to make time to spend with Briony, whether it was watching TV together in the werewolves’ living room, or going for a walk around their garden, or just trying to find a quiet corner of the house, untouched by the constant preparations.

  Somehow, though, it never quite seemed to work. Another of the werewolves would wander in and change the channel, or would have questions about Kevin’s past, or would have an urgent message from Josh and Aunt Sophie. There always seemed to be something in the way of them spending time alone together, generally showing up just at the moment when Briony most wanted to move closer to him and kiss him deeply.

  Often, it seemed to be Carol or Brian doing the interrupting, though to Briony, it seemed that they had very different approaches. Brian was almost apologetic about it each time, apparently unwilling to hurt Briony’s feelings even as his interruption did exactly that. Carol, on the other hand, just did not seem to care. Oh, she was sweet enough to Kevin, but it was obvious what she was trying to do, wasn’t it?

  Briony tried talking to Aunt Sophie about it that night, out on the werewolves’ porch, but the older woman just shrugged.

  “Briony, we are so close. We cannot afford to let personal feelings get in the way now. Not when the werewolves could be the key to finally stamping out Pietre and his vampires.”

  “I’m not planning to fight with her,” Briony said. “I’m just wondering if you think I should maybe say something to her. To let her know that I know what she’s going through.”

  Aunt Sophie gave her a curious look then. “Do you think that would help, Briony?”

  “I don’t know. She just seems so… angry all the time.”

  “Angry, or jealous?”

  “What?” Briony had not expected that from her great aunt. “Why would she be jealous?”

  Aunt Sophie shook her head. “You really can’t see it? It is obvious that she likes that werewolf boy of yours. She has certainly been following him around whenever she hasn’t been busy staring at you.”