Silver (Wicked Woods #3)

by Kailin Gow

  “Yes.”

  Something of the tension Briony felt at being reminded of what Jake was again must have seeped through, because Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. “What is it?”

  “I saw the wolves feeding outside.”

  “Not much in the way of table manners, were there?”

  Briony didn’t dare explain about what had happened inside, not at a time like this, so she forced a smile. “No, not real y. I suppose I’d better ask Josh for my sword back now, if we’re going to get going.”

  The werewolf king gave it back to her without any problems. In fact, there wasn’t so much as a hint of what had gone before. He gave her the weapon, and then walked off casual y to talk to Jake. Even Brian seemed calm enough about the whole thing, though Briony noticed that he was quick to suggest that Briony should ride on his back to the vampires’ house.

  Briony shook her head. “Thanks for offering, but Kevin wil take me.”

  It seemed like the quickest way to make it clear where Brian stood. Besides, Briony already knew what Kevin would say if she suggested that someone else carry her.

  It didn’t take long to get ready. In fact, within fifteen minutes, they were speeding back through the forest. The wolves ran as one coordinated pack, a furry wedge with Josh’s powerful form at the front. Jake rode one of the others, not daring to transform until he needed to. For her part, Briony just did her best to cling onto Kevin as the werewolf ate up ground with frightening speed. There was something exhilarating about being caught up in the moving flow of so many creatures like this, something primal. It was almost enough to make Briony forget about what she had seen of the pack’s other side.

  Eventual y, they slowed, and a few of the werewolves changed back. Josh looked untroubled by the thought of what lay ahead, even in clothes that were ragged from the transformation. Kevin stayed as a wolf.

  “They should just be on the other side of the trees,”

  Josh said. “Jake, it’s time to do your stuff.”

  “Stuff?” Briony wasn’t sure that she liked the sound of that. “What stuff?”

  Josh moved so that he could peer between the trees. “Jake has offered to go in and fetch the captives for us. It seems like a better plan than al of us trying to sneak in.”

  “A better plan?” Briony echoed. “They know who he is, Josh. They’l have seen him fighting on our side in the battle. He’l be torn to pieces the moment he sets foot in there.”

  “Not if he’s quiet and lucky,” Josh countered.

  “Besides, we don’t know that the vampires in there were in a position to see him. If they weren’t, then Jake has the best chance of any of us.”

  “But-”

  “I want to do this, Briony,” Jake said, slipping up to them in near silence. “If I can help, I want to. I won’t be long.”

  He blurred away through the trees, cutting off any argument.

  “If he gets hurt-” Briony began.

  Josh cut her off. “Jake is one of us. If there is any trouble, the rest of us wil attack long enough to create a distraction.”

  “Assuming that you’re in time. Assuming… ”

  Josh raised a hand. “Are we real y going to argue until the vampires hear us? That won’t help Jake’s chances.”

  “No, I guess not.” Briony moved back from him. “I’l wait with the others.”

  For at least a minute, that was exactly what Briony did. She wanted to give it plenty of time before she started edging to the fringes of the pack. She checked that no one was looking and slipped into the trees. She wasn’t about to leave Jake on his own like that. Not for something this dangerous. Josh would probably notice that she was gone after a minute, but what could he do about it without making so much noise that it would spoil the whole plan?

  Briony crept forward, hoping that she wasn’t making things worse, until she was in sight of the house. She could see Jake there, slipping in through a window. Briony crept closer, until she was at an angle where she could see inside.

  Carol was there, wrapped in the same kind of silver chains that Kevin once had been. A few others were there too. They al looked like they had been beaten, and there weren’t nearly as many of them as Briony might have hoped. Stil , at least Jake was there. He would soon have the silver chain off them and…

  Briony realized the problem with that reasoning just as her brother touched the chain. He jerked back, obviously unable to touch it. Briony saw him say something to the others there, and then start back out of the window. Of course. He was going to get the one person who could help with the chains. Her.

  Briony moved forward, deciding to meet her brother half way. She had made it only some of the way across though when a figure stepped around the corner of the house and into view. A terrifyingly familiar figure. Pietre made it to the window in a blur, hauling Jake out of it and holding him aloft at arm’s length. Briony froze in place. The only thing that was keeping Pietre from seeing her too was the fact that his back was to her. Steeling herself, Briony crept closer.

  “Ah, Sophie’s nephew the abomination. A pity that.

  Were you not such a monster, you might be of some use in getting through to her. As it is…”

  “Aunt Sophie loves me,” Jake countered. “She told me so herself.”

  “Did she now? I find that hard to believe, young…

  creature.”

  “She hugged me.”

  “Hmm…” Pietre’s voice went from taunting to thoughtful. Briony just kept edging closer. As she got nearer, she unhooked her cross from around her neck, opening the top, where the holy water vial was stored. She felt, more than heard, a presence beside her, and turned her head to see Kevin.

  “You didn’t real y think I wouldn’t notice when you left?” he whispered.

  Unfortunately, at that distance, even a whisper was enough. Pietre turned with a look of triumph, stil holding Jake by his throat.”

  “Ah, the gang’s al here. I was wondering when big sister and the wolf would show up.”

  Jake squirmed in his grip. “You don’t need them. If you just want a hostage for Aunt Sophie, I’l do.”

  “Oh, but why settle for one? Now, girl put down that sil y sword or I’l have to hurt your brother.”

  Briony shook her head. “You won’t hurt Jake.”

  “I’m certain I wil .”

  “No,” she said, and threw the holy water in the same moment. “You won’t.”

  Pietre screamed and dropped Jake, just before Kevin surged past in his wolf form to knock the master vampire from his feet.

  Jake pointed at the window. “Briony, the prisoners.

  I’l help Kevin.”

  Briony knew he was right. She hopped in through the open window, doing her best to avoid a few remnants of broken glass. Carol looked up as she came in, and actual y flinched away as Briony went to lift the chains from her.

  “We don’t have time for this, Carol,” Briony snapped.

  “Do you want to be rescued or not?”

  The werewolf girl nodded mutely, and Briony lifted the silver from her.

  “Thank you,” Carol said grudgingly, but Briony was already moving to the next of the werewolves. She had just removed the chains from the last of them when she heard a scream from outside. She ran to the window and saw Pietre’s hand on Kevin’s furry chest, his nails gouging into it like claws.

  Briony didn’t hesitate. She hopped up onto the windowsil and then threw herself forward, her boot lashing out to connect with the vampire. It wouldn’t do permanent damage, but the sheer momentum of it was enough to knock Pietre away from Kevin. A smal er wolf leapt at the vampire, and Briony realized Jake had transformed.

  At that point, things turned to utter chaos. Vampires poured from the house, many of them with teeth and nails reddened by whatever they had been doing to the wolves.

  Josh’s werewolves ran from the trees, smashing into them, while Carol and the others seemed to have shaken off the effects of the silver at least wel enoug
h to fight. For a second or two, the space around Briony was a writhing mass of figures trying to harm one another.

  At that point, someone grabbed her around the waist. Fearing that it might be a vampire, Briony tried to fight, but whoever it was knew what they were doing, and dragged her back into the trees like she was nothing. Was it Kevin, trying to protect her?

  Briony turned as soon as the arms around her let go.

  It wasn’t Kevin, but someone she knew and did not expect to see.

  “Aunt Sophie? What are you doing here?”

  Chapter 7

  Briony wanted to ask her great aunt so many things, but she wasn’t sure that there was time. Even as Aunt Sophie let go of her, a pair of vampires rushed from the trees at them. They were young, and wore modern clothing, but Briony did not recognize them. It did not matter.

  Whoever they were, they obviously weren’t there to make friends. Briony fel back into a guard position. Even as she tensed for the battle to come, though, a very familiar form leapt past her, kicking out at one vampire hard enough to smash it back before thrusting a stake at another. It burst into the cold flames of its death even as Briony recognized the newcomer.

  “Fal on? Aunt Sophie, what are you doing with Fal on?”

  “Oh,” Aunt Sophie’s voice was light, like Fal on wasn’t stil struggling with his second opponent, “he helped me out of a bit of a tight spot with Pietre. He must be very devoted to you, you know, if he is prepared to hang out with an old fogy like me on the off chance of seeing you. Now, excuse me one moment.”

  Aunt Sophie stepped past Briony to where Fal on was stil struggling with the second vampire, took out a stake, and plunged it into the creature’s chest in one smooth motion. It was almost casual, and yet the creature was dead in an instant.

  For a brief moment after the vampire died, stil ness reigned within the little space they occupied, but then Briony couldn’t contain herself any longer. She threw her arms around Fal on in a hug that would have driven the breath from someone who actual y needed to breathe. She stared at him, just drinking in his presence.

  “It’s so good to see you again.”

  “You too,” he replied, his hands going to her face as he kissed her, brushing over it like they might learn every contour of it. “That’s because I was worried about you. And this is just because I want to.” He kissed her again. Briony let herself melt into his lips, not even caring that Aunt Sophie was standing right there for the first few seconds.

  Eventual y though, the thought that she was being watched brought Briony back to her senses long enough to look over at her great aunt.

  Aunt Sophie gave her a knowing smile. “I’l just leave the two of you to get reacquainted, shal I? Remember what I said, Fal on. Keep her out of the fight.”

  With that, she slipped off between the trees, moving with more grace than a woman her age had a right to, leaving the two of them alone.

  For a long moment, they just stared at one another.

  Briony got out the first words. “Fal on, I was so worried. I haven’t seen you since…”

  “Since our double date at the fairground,” Fal on supplied for her. “And I should be the worried one. I panicked when I couldn’t find you, Briony. Even Aunt Sophie was gone. I thought something terrible had happened to you.”

  “We were with the werewolves. It’s a long story.”

  Fal on nodded. “I know. Your great aunt has fil ed me in on most of it. Though I wish you could have cal ed.”

  Briony kept her arms around him. She liked being this close to the vampire. “There wasn’t a chance, and anyway, we weren’t sure who might be listening. How did you find me?”

  “Your great aunt. She took a lot of tracking down too, but at least she was able to guess where you might be.”

  Fal on went very quiet for a second. “With al the attacks around town, I was so scared that something might have happened to you, Briony.”

  “Attacks?” Briony pul ed back from his arms. “I knew things would get worse without the werewolves there to stop things, but they have become that bad?”

  “They’ve become worse than bad,” Fal on said. He hesitated once more.

  “What is it?” Briony wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. “Who did they hurt? It’s not Maisy or Steve, is it?” More names came to mind. People from school. People she had only seen days ago, but who seemed like they were from another life, after everything that had happened. The uncharitable part of her found herself hoping that if it had to be anyone, it would be Pepper, the school’s head cheerleader. Briony squashed that impulse. Even Pepper didn’t deserve that. Besides, something told her that life would never reserve anything quite that cruel for her occasional tormentor.

  Fal on shook his head. “It’s not Maisy, or Steve.

  Anyone like that. It’s George. They turned him into one of them, Briony. He’s under Pietre’s control.”

  “No.” Briony could hardly think of a worse fate for the diner owner, given how much he had hated the monsters al around the town. George would rather die than have something like that happen to him. “Is he… did you…”

  “Stake him?” Fal on shook his head. “Not fatal y, anyway. Your great aunt wants to give him a chance. See if there is a way to get him out from under Pietre’s influence.”

  Briony found herself smiling at that, even though it meant that George was stil one of the undead. “Aunt Sophie giving vampires chances. Who would have thought it?”

  “I’m glad she gave me one,” Fal on replied, just before the sounds of battle cut through the trees. The growling of angry wolves came complete with screams and battle cries. It sounded like, far from hitting and running, the werewolves had managed to get themselves caught up in a ful blown battle back there. Did they have the strength and numbers to win it? Even with the number of vampires around the house probably lower than it had been at the ambush, Briony didn’t know for certain. And the longer things went on, the more chance there was of reinforcements showing up.

  “It seems like it is time for us to go,” Briony said, turning back towards the fight and hefting her sword. “They sound like they wil need our help.”

  She took a step, but almost instantly, Fal on’s arms wrapped around her waist, halting her forward motion. The movement pressed them almost intimately close to one another, and Briony might have appreciated it a lot more, had Fal on not just stopped her like that. As it was, it just made her brows narrow.

  “What are you doing, Fal on?”

  “Briony,” he said, not letting her go, “wait. Didn’t you hear Aunt Sophie? She doesn’t want you going back there.”

  “But I have to,” Briony insisted. “We both have to.

  There are too many people there. There’s Jake, and Aunt Sophie, and Kevin-”

  “I only know what Aunt Sophie said,” Fal on countered, not loosening his grip even slightly.

  “And why do you care what she says?” Briony demanded. “She could even be in real trouble in there, Fal on. Even most of the werewolves won’t be happy to see her. She could be hurt.”

  The vampire shook his head. “Somehow, I doubt that. You of al people should know how dangerous she is, and you don’t even know the whole story. Right now, I think she could walk into that house and kil almost anything in it.”

  He waited for a moment before continuing. “Besides, she’s not joining in the whole fight. She’s just doing one particular job.”

  “One…” The answer came to Briony even as she started to ask. “Aunt Sophie is going after Pietre, isn’t she?

  She’s going to try to kil him while the battle is going on.”

  Fal on didn’t answer immediately, but eventual y nodded. The movement brought his lips tantalizingly close to Briony’s skin. She tried not to be distracted by that thought, though it wasn’t easy.

  “Why?” She demanded. “Why here? Why now?”

  “She said something on the way over about him having done enough damage. About wanting to end it.
”

  “Then Aunt Sophie wil need our help,” Briony argued. “You know how dangerous Pietre is. Let me go, Fal on. I’m going after her.”

  “No. She was clear about that. Not just when she left, but before. You’re the key to this, Briony. I don’t know how, but you are, and it is vital that you stay safe, no matter what happens in that house. She said that you would understand eventual y, even if it doesn’t make sense now.”

  For a moment, just for a moment, Briony considered doing as her great aunt had asked. As Fal on so obviously wanted her to. It gave her an excuse not to be in that roiling mess of violence. Yet what would she be if she stood back while those she cared about were in danger? How would she ever live with herself if they died? Slowly, and so gently that Fal on didn’t fight it, Briony started to unpeel his fingers from her.

  “I have to do this, Fal on. There are times when you can’t just stand at the side. Besides,” she added with a smile that was probably a little more eager than she felt,

  “I’m missing out on the chance to kick some vampire butt here.”

  With Fal on’s grip loosened, Briony turned, grabbing Fal on’s shirt with her free hand and pul ing him to her in a kiss far more passionate than their first. It seemed to surprise him, but Fal on was al too ready to go along with it.

  Briony made it last for several seconds, before remembering that she had to get going.

  “You know,” Fal on said as she pul ed back, “I think I like it when you’re in this kind of mood.”

  Briony smiled. “I don’t have any reasons for that one, like you did, but I think it wil do, don’t you?”

  “Definitely. Briony-”

  “Don’t say it, Fal on.”

  “I was just going to say good luck.”

  Briony grinned at that and started back towards the battle, Fal on moving smoothly alongside her, obviously determined to protect her. They didn’t run. Until she knew what was going on where, Briony didn’t dare run out into the middle of it blindly, and Fal on kept pace with her. Stil , she knew they couldn’t take too long. It wouldn’t do any good trying to join in if the battle had ended by the time she got there.