by Tim O'Rourke
After we had been walking for some time, Calix slowed down ahead of me. He glanced back and waited for me to catch up. I wasn’t so sure that I was in the mood to put up with any of his sarcastic comments.
So before he’d had a chance to say anything, I peered through the falling snow at him and said, “So how did you find sleeping in that coffin? Was it comfortable?”
“Considerably more comfortable than sleeping on the cold floor, like you,” he said.
“It wasn’t so bad,” I told him.
He looked at me as we set off again. “You didn’t sound as if you were very comfortable, what, with all the noise you were making as the rest of us were trying to sleep.”
My heart froze. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Calix kind of smirked. “Sure you do. I barely got any shut-eye thanks to you crying out every five minutes.”
“I had a nightmare, that’s all,” I said, lowering my head, forcing myself forward through the driving snow.
Calix kept pace with me. Puffs of breath streamed from his nose and mouth and disappeared up into the night. “It must have been some nightmare to have you screaming like that, and besides…”
“Look, Calix,” I cut over him, “I’m not the only one to have had a nightmare recently. If I remember rightly, you woke up screaming the other night when we slept in that barn.”
Calix puffed out his chest. “I wasn’t screaming.”
“You woke up looking petrified,” I reminded him. “So do you care to tell me what your nightmare was about?”
Calix stared ahead where the others were. “I can’t remember what it was about,” he said.
I suspected that was untrue. “And neither do I,” I told him. “So let’s just leave it at that, shall we?”
To my surprise Calix seemed happy to let the subject drop. He didn’t push and pry like I suspected him to. Perhaps he had his own secrets he wanted to keep, just like I did.
Ahead of us, Morten had come to a stop. As Calix and I joined the others, the ancient gravedigger pointed ahead. I looked in the direction that he pointed with his bony finger. Just a few feet ahead, the trees began to thin out and I could see what looked like a road. Here, the snow which covered it had been disturbed and I could see tyre tracks. The vehicle that had made them must have been big and heavy, as the tracks in the snow were deep and wide.
“That road leads to the barns and the warehouses – to the human farm,” Morten whispered.
Calix moved forward. Before he had taken more than a couple of steps, Trent reached out. Placing one hand on Calix’s arm, he stopped him from going any further.
“Look,” Trent whispered, pointing at the tyre tracks that cut through the snow. Trent bent down, trying to make himself small. “The tracks are fresh, which means a vehicle passed this way recently. We have to tread carefully from here.”
Rea dropped the cigar she had been smoking into the snow where it fizzled out. “I’m guessing that as all the werewolves are dead here, and the humans have become little more than cattle, it was vampires who have driven a vehicle through here recently.”
I thought Rea was stating the obvious but I didn’t say anything. I kept my mouth shut. I knew that she was still trying to flex some kind of authority over the group. Perhaps it was more that she didn’t want Trent to discount her position.
“How far is this factory – human farm – from here?” Rush whispered.
“Just a mile or so,” Morten said.
“Then let’s not waste any more time,” Trent said, creeping forward, heading slowly toward the road.
Chapter Seven
A snow-covered hedge lined the road. Bent forward, we kept close to it as we made our way toward the outskirts of Maze. Morten continued to lead us as it was only he who knew the way. Stooped forward and carrying the heavy rucksack, it wasn’t long before my back had begun to ache. If the others felt as uncomfortable as I did, they didn’t show it. They continued to press on and at speed. Once more, I travelled behind them, but this time Calix didn’t look back or wait for me. I was kind of happy about that. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Calix but it was him constantly shooting his mouth off which made it difficult to have a proper or meaningful conversation with him. I wondered if beneath his tough exterior there wasn’t a guy with a big heart. After all, despite his cockiness and bluster, he had paid me a compliment the night we had come across the graveyard and the church. Calix had said he thought the magic I’d used when escaping the vampires had been amazing. Why had he said such a thing? Did he mean it, or had he just been trying to butter me up so he could grab my arse again? I didn’t know but it was nice to hear all the same.
Ahead, Morten stopped once more. We pressed ourselves close into the bushes that lined the road. The snow had eased a little and once more I looked in the direction in which Morten pointed with one long, bony finger. He was pointing across the road where there was another row of trees. These were more spread out than the ones in the wood we had recently passed through. Between them and far in the distance I could just make out a huddle of buildings. Cupping my hands around my eyes, I thought I could see what looked like some kind of tower stretching up into the night sky. As I continued to squint, I could see that, in fact, it wasn’t a tower but a chimney with thick, black smoke tumbling from it.
“There it is,” Morten hissed.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything, the night was lit up with bright white light. We all glanced to the right and back along the road to see a set of headlights coming toward us through the dark. The swirling snow sparkled in the light as a large truck thundered down the road toward us.
“Get back!” Trent said, before diving into the nearby bushes. Twigs and thistles snatched at my hair and clothing as I buried myself as best I could into the bushes. The ground seemed to tremble as the truck drew closer and closer. Praying we wouldn’t be seen, I tried to make myself as small as possible. I became sandwiched between Calix and Rush, who crouched on either side of me. From our hiding place, we watched the truck pass. And from ground level, the wheels of the vehicle looked giant-sized as they spewed up snow, turning it into a thick, dark sludge. With my heart racing and daring not to breathe, I listened to the sound of the truck fade into the distance. When the sound of it was little more than a distant rumble of thunder, Trent crept from our hiding place and back onto the road. The rest of us followed him as he darted across the road and into the wooded area on the other side of it. By the time the rest of us had caught up with him, Trent was crouching beside a tree trunk and staring into the distance.
“Keep down,” he said with a flick of his hand.
In silence, we crouched low beside him. Just a few feet away was a fence. It was made of thick metal and reached high above us. All along the top of the fence were circular bundles of razor wire. There was a sign fixed to the fence, and in black writing the following warning had been written: Keep Out – Trespassers Will Be Punished. By Order of the Night Watchmen!
“The Night Watchmen? Who are the Night Watchmen?” Rush whispered.
“They are an elite group of vampires who rule over the others,” Morten explained. He looked at us with his white eyes and continued. “They keep law and order – if there is any such thing amongst the vampires – but one thing I do know for sure is that the Night Watchmen are vicious, ruthless, and unforgiving. It is the Night Watchmen who guard the secrets hidden behind this fence. Each of them wouldn’t think twice before killing you within a heartbeat.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Calix slide the shotgun from his back. I looked away. Rea was watching me. Without breaking my stare, she opened the flaps of her long, dark coat to reveal the belt decorated with bullets and the silver pistols tethered to each of her thighs. Just like I had with Calix, I looked away and back toward the buildings in the distance.
“So how are we going to get over the fence?” Rush asked, his voice barely audible over the sound of the nagging wind whistling through the trees and bra
nches above our heads.
“We go through the fence not over it,” Trent said moving toward it but keeping low to the ground.
We crept forward and joined him at the fence. And then, just like the night before, Trent’s hands turned into claws. His fingers stretched until they were no longer the size of a human hand. Each finger was capped with a perfectly pointed nail that was a dull yellow colour like old ivory. Unlike the previous night, his face stayed the same. He remained human-looking and didn’t fully shift into the wolf-man. Using his claws like knives, Trent began to slice through the wire at the bottom of the fence.
“Someone give me a hand,” Trent said.
Before anyone else had the chance to offer up any help, Rea was pushing up the sleeves of her coat. “I’ll help you,” she said.
I looked at her hands in the darkness, and I could see that her fingers were sharpened into points. Together, Trent and Rea cut a hole in the bottom of the fence. When they were done they pulled back the wire. The hole they had made was big enough for us to climb through in turn. Trent was the first through and into the field that stretched away on the other side of the fence. He was followed by Rea, Morten, and Rush.
“You next,” Calix said, ushering me toward the hole.
Dropping onto my hands and knees in the snow, I crawled through the gap in the fence. I was half expecting to feel Calix’s hands on my arse again. I glanced back over my shoulder at him. His dark eyes were firmly fixed on my butt.
“Don’t even think about it,” I hissed back at him.
Calix said nothing. He just grinned back at me as I made my way through the hole. On the other side of the fence I stood up and brushed snow from the knees of my jeans and coat elbows. Once Calix was through the hole, he wrenched the wire fence back into place. We stood huddled together in a vast field, and just like everything else, it was covered in a deep carpet of white crisp snow. From the other side of the fence the warehouses and barns looked closer still, as did the chimney that towered high above us in the distance. The smoke continued to tumble from it, forming a thick, black cloud that hung over the field. Now that we were closer, the smoke had a sweet pungent smell to it, like that of overcooked meat.
“What the fuck is that god-awful smell?” Calix grumbled, covering his nose and mouth with one hand.
“I heard a rumour that there is a furnace inside the warehouse where the bones and other remains of the humans are burnt,” Morten said with a grim expression on his face.
“And remind me why we’re here, again?” Calix asked from behind the hand he still had pressed flat to his nose and mouth.
“To free the humans,” I said.
Rea looked at me. “I don’t remember that being part of the plan. I thought we had come to negotiate.”
“They’re both the same thing, aren’t they?” I said. “Once we have negotiated a truce the vampires will set the humans free.”
“I think you place too much trust in these vampires,” Rea said. “Just like you place too much hope in your chances of finding a truce.”
“Hope is all I have right now,” I said, looking away and back toward the warehouse with its towering and smoking chimney. But if the vampires were really burning the remains of the humans they had slaughtered for food, then perhaps Rea was right and I was being naïve and foolish to believe for one moment I could find a truce with the vampires. However, despite any doubts that ate away at the corners of my mind, I knew that not all vampires were cruel and evil. Just like not all humans were bad, and the same could be said for the werewolves. I had to keep believing I would find some goodness in them.
“So how are we going to check out that place without being seen?” Rush asked.
“I thought Julia had that all under control,” Rea said as if setting me a challenge.
I glanced at her, then at Trent, who was standing close by. He was watching me. Was he waiting to see what kind of magic spell I was going to cast? Was he waiting for me to prove to him and the rest of my companions that I was true to my word, and just as I promised I would get them into the warehouse without being detected by the vampires? If I could do such a thing, wouldn’t it go some way to prove to the doubters I travelled with that a lot could be achieved in a peaceful way without the aid of guns or any other type of weapon? Because if my magic failed, I knew all too well that my companions would resort to force to gain entry to the human farm. And that would lead to more death and mistrust between the vampires and werewolves.
“Well?” Rea asked, hands on hips. “What’s your plan, Julia Miller?”
I looked at my companions. Calix raised an eyebrow at me. I glanced back over my shoulder toward the human farm. My heart began to speed up, not because I was getting angry or frustrated, but because of the magic that flowed from the pit of my stomach. It swept through my veins and into my hands. My hair began to shift about my shoulders like a nest of snakes as I began to work the magic deep inside of me. Raising my hands, I began to move them about in a circular motion above my head.
“Oh great,” I heard Rea say behind me. “Perhaps the witch’s plan is for us to dance our away across the field and into the human farm.”
“Shhh!” Trent hissed. Rea fell silent, for now at least.
With eyes closed, arms raised above my head and fingers extended, instead of throwing out magic, I pulled it in toward me. I drew on the everyday magic that was all about us, that only sensitive creatures like the Wicce can see. I felt soft snowflakes settle on the backs of my hands and balance on my fingertips. In the centre of my mind’s eye, I pulled a million snowflakes altogether, forming a shimmering blizzard about me and my friends. Opening my eyes again, I could see that we were concealed on all sides by a swirling wall of snow. It was like we were trapped in a giant snow globe. Although we could see out, I knew the vampires wouldn’t be able to see us. And as we moved across the field and toward the human farm, even if the vampires did look in our direction, instead of seeing six bedraggled figures, all they would see was more shifting and swirling snow.
“Okay?” I said, looking at my companions.
“Okay what?” Rea asked, looking dumbfounded.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“But where is the magic?” Rush asked, sounding as confused as Rea now looked. “What’s changed? Nothing has happened. The vampires will see us!”
Then, to my surprise, and with a grin spread across his face, Calix said, “I can see it! I can see what Julia has done!”
“Well, I don’t,” Rea snapped.
“It’s stopped snowing,” Calix breathed with something close to awe.
“Have you lost your mind?” Rea said.
Slowly, Trent stepped forward. “I see it, too! It’s not snowing in here but it is outside.”
“What do you mean, outside?” Rush said, shaking his head from side to side and looking completely lost.
“All I can see is snow!” Rea spat.
I stood and watched them try and figure out the magic I had cast. I watched Morten step forward and approach the wall of snow I had created around us. With some hesitation, Morten raised his hand and placed it into the snow that fell outside of the wall I had conjured. Glancing back over his shoulder, he shot me a knowing smile. “It’s snowing outside but not inside.”
As if the penny had finally dropped, Rea realised that there was no longer snow falling on her. And as she looked up at the night sky, she could see that the snow was settling in the air just a few feet above her head, but coming no further. Slowly, she lowered her head and looked straight at me.
“I can see it too, now,” Rush said. “It’s like a protective layer has formed all about us.”
“So the vampires won’t be able to see us,” Trent said, making sense of what I’d done. “Although we’ll be able to see the vampires, the snow will blind them from seeing us?”
I nodded my head and tried to hold back the smile that wanted to spread wide across my face. I didn’t want to gloat. I was just so pleased to see t
he look of wonder on my companions’ faces or on at least four of them. Rea stood with her arms folded across her chest, with what I could only describe as a scowl drawn across her face. I knew she had been hoping I would screw up. Rea had been praying I’d put too much faith in my magic.
“Is this really going to work?” Rush asked.
“I guess there is only one way of finding out,” Trent said, shooting a smile at me before turning and setting off in the direction of the human farm.
Chapter Eight
We moved slowly forward, the snow falling all around us but not on us. I walked up front next to Trent as we made our way toward the human farm in the distance. And with each step we took the buildings and the smoking chimney loomed larger and larger ahead of us. Although the dome I had created about us protected us from the snow, I could still smell that pungent and sweet scent of burning flesh. It made me want to heave. I turned up my nose. I could only describe the smell as being like that of overcooked pork and crispy crackling. Not for one moment did I want to conjure images of that burning flesh and where it had truly come from.
When we were about halfway across the field, I heard Calix strike up a conversation with Rea. They walked some distance behind me. I didn’t know whether they believed themselves to be out of earshot of me but I heard every word they said.
“Well, you’ve gotta give it to Julia. She was true to her word,” Calix started. “She’s managed to keep us hidden from the vampires.”
“Has she?” Rea sneered. “I’ve yet to see any vampires. The real test will be when we do. And besides, if the witch can create such magic – can keep us concealed from view – why hasn’t she done it before now?”
“Don’t you remember? Julia said something about needing space – needing to draw on the elements or some other kind of other crap,” Calix said. “But whatever the reason, she’s done good this time.”
