by Megan Morgan
Dr. Winston looked up, eyebrows arched above his glasses.
“I don’t know.” Lorena touched her jeans pocket. “I don’t know much about holding spells.”
He motioned for her to stand. She did, reluctantly. If she tried to break the spell, Neala might know and retaliate.
“Where is it?” Deacon asked.
“In my pocket.” She pointed to her hip. “I don’t know if you should do this, though.”
He delved in the pocket and wiggled his fingers around. “It ain’t there.” He withdrew his hand.
“Yes, it is.” She patted her pocket. The stone jutted through the denim. “It’s right there. You missed it.”
He shoved his hand in again and pulled it out, empty. “I don’t feel it. I reach in, and there’s nothing there.”
She pushed her hand into her pocket, grabbed the stone, and drew it out. “See?”
He gazed at it a moment, then lifted his hand to take it. She snapped her fingers closed around it, but not of her own accord.
“Lorena.”
“I didn’t do that!” She tried to open her hand, but her fingers wouldn’t uncurl. “I can’t open my hand.” She tried to pry her fingers open with her other hand, but they were stuck.
“I don’t like this.” Deacon stepped back. “Not one bit.”
Her fingers relaxed. She opened her hand. “I don’t either.” She stared at the stone. “I’m not powerful enough to fight her magic. That’s why we have to do this, and do it the way we’re supposed to.”
“We better prepare ourselves.” Dr. Winston stood and picked up his field kit. “They’ll be here soon. I’ve worked on live Wolvites but never a rabid one. This is going to be a unique experience.”
Lorena shoved the stone back in her pocket. Deacon’s eyes were full of fear, and it made her chest ache.
She went to the bathroom, to try to collect her thoughts. Not being able to give up the stone was scary, but she didn’t doubt for a second that Neala was serious in her threats. Maybe Deacon would understand now.
She washed her hands and splashed water on her face. Deacon and Dr. Winston talked in the dining room, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes before emerging, and tried to adopt a stoic face.
The worry that remained in Deacon’s eyes didn’t make it easy.
Dr. Winston set up a triage center on the back patio. Deacon provided him a cot and a folding table for his instruments. Lorena stood on the back steps and gazed toward the trees. The sun was below the horizon.
“Maybe we should go down to the woods,” she suggested. “I’m not sure they’ll be willing to come this close to the house.”
“I need a flat, dry surface,” Dr. Winston said. “I can’t do this in the yard. If they want my help, they’re going to have to trust us.”
Deacon plopped down in a lawn chair. Lorena paced and waited for something to happen. What if they wouldn’t come up to the house? Would Neala consider the deal broken and command Lorena to follow her?
The sky darkened. The first stars came out.
And finally, Lorena felt a tug in her chest. She stopped and stared toward the woods. “They’re coming.”
Deacon got up. Dr. Winston stood near the cot. Clem started barking inside the house.
“Shh, boy.” Lorena patted the door.
She felt their approach, their caution, but a sense of desperation, as well. The invisible cuffs around her wrists tightened.
“I have to go talk to them,” Lorena said. Clem was still barking. “Make him be quiet.”
“Clem!” Deacon hollered. The dog fell silent. “I’m not letting you walk down there alone.”
She looked at Dr. Winston and he nodded.
“Come on then,” she said.
She and Deacon walked toward the trees. As they drew closer, faint shapes emerged from the shadows. The fear that emanated from the woods was profound and nearly made her pause. Anger bubbled forth as well. She spread her arms, to show she had no weapons, and looked pleadingly at Deacon.
He sighed and spread his arms too.
A few feet from the trees, they stopped.
“Neala.” Lorena turned in a slow circle. “We’re unarmed, see? Come out. It’s only us and the doctor.”
Neala stepped out. She wore her cloak from the night before. She focused on Deacon.
Deacon drew in a breath. This had to be painful for him.
“Did you bring Dafydd?” Lorena asked. “The doctor is ready to look at him.”
Neala looked toward the house. “Why is he up there? Bring him closer.”
“He needs to be there.” Lorena lowered her arms. “He has his equipment set up there. Don’t worry, it’s not a trick. Just bring Dafydd out.”
Neala snapped her gaze to Deacon again. “Hello, little brother.”
Deacon stood stiff and guarded. He still had his arms held out. “You ain’t no sister of mine. I don’t care if your dog dies, but you put a spell on my woman, that’s the only reason I’m letting this happen.”
“Yes, I do have a spell on her, and if you act foolish I’ll take her away from you, forever.”
“We’re unarmed,” Lorena said again. “We’re the only ones here.”
Neala turned to the trees. “Come!”
Lorena and Deacon backed up. Neala walked fully out of the trees, holding up the hem of her threadbare gown. Her feet were black with dirt.
Two hulking Wolvites in human form stepped out of the trees, carrying a stretcher between them. The stretcher was fashioned from thatches of thin wood and canvas. On the stretcher lay Dafydd in his bestial form, his body lashed to the stretcher with thick ropes.
He didn’t struggle. He huffed and twitched, but seemed to be either asleep or delirious. Deacon wrinkled his nose. The stink made Lorena cringe as well. He smelled even worse than usual.
“The potion is keeping him sedated?” Lorena led them across the yard toward the house. “He seems to be resting.”
“I gave him the rest of it.” Neala strode beside her. “He’s calm, but he’s not been able to shift.”
“We made more. Dr. Winston has been doing some experiments with it, he thinks the potion itself strengthened the power of the bark somehow.”
Dr. Winston watched as they approached. Inside the house, Clem was again barking wildly and thumping against the back door.
“That stupid dog.” Neala snarled. “He always tried to bite me.”
The Wolvites carried the stretcher to the cot. Dr. Winston stared in open fascination at them. Dafydd let out a low growl. His claws curled against his broad chest.
“These are Wolvites?” Dr. Winston asked.
“Yes.” Neala stood next to the cot. “They’re not stupid animals, now are they?”
“You must be Neala.” Dr. Winston turned his attention to her. “I’ve never seen them in their human form before. Until recently, I didn’t even know such a thing existed.”
Neala swept him with a disdainful gaze. “We have many secrets you will never understand. You have to save him, that’s all that is important right now.”
“You’re going to have to tell me a few things.” Dr. Winston looked down at Dafydd. “How long has he been ill? Do you know where it came from? Was he bitten? Scratched? Are there others who are sick?”
“Four days.” Neala pulled her cloak around her body. “He went away for a week to seek out others who were injured and suffering, as we periodically do. We find them and bring them back to the camp. When he returned he was…not himself. He was combative and erratic.”
Dr. Winston picked up a pair of tweezers and knelt next to the cot.
Deacon stood behind Lorena. He placed a protective hand on her shoulder.
“Do you think he was in a fight?” Dr. Winston plucked some hairs from the creature’s arm and dropped them in a dish. “Another Wolvite must have passed this to him, which means others are sick as well.”
“I don’t know.” N
eala’s voice grew strained. “He couldn’t tell me anything, he was already too confused. A few others went with him, but they didn’t return. With Dafydd like this I fear they may be dead.”
Dr. Winston set the dish aside and grabbed a syringe and needle. Dafydd growled low when he drew blood, and Lorena stiffened, but the Wolvite settled again when Dr. Winston pulled out the needle.
“The fact that the potion is helping could open the door to a cure.” Dr. Winston picked up another, bigger needle. “When I study the virus on its own, it seems to have a life cycle of five to eight days. The corpses I’ve studied, I have no idea how long they lived before they succumbed. I was hoping you could tell me.”
“What is that for?” Neala eyed the needle.
Dr. Winston brought it close to Dafydd’s shaggy arm. “I need a tissue sample. A small one, I won’t hurt him.”
Dafydd growled again when the needle slid in and strained at his ropes. His fangs were bared and shiny. Foam oozed from the corner of his snout.
“I’ve only heard stories,” Neala said. “No Wolvite remembers when the Sickness swept through before, but some say a week, even less, until it kills.”
Lorena started to relax, even become interested. Then, the sound of a truck coming down the driveway invaded their studious silence.
She looked around at Deacon. “Who…?”
Deacon gritted his teeth. “Damn stubborn fools.”
Neala dropped her cloak from around her. The two Wolvite men growled.
“You said no one else would be here!” Neala glared at Lorena.
“Deacon told his family to stay away.” Lorena gripped Deacon’s arm. “Go, tell them to get out of here.”
Neala clenched her fists. “You betrayed me.”
“No.” Lorena held out her hands. “Deacon told them to stay away. He’ll get them out of here.”
Deacon stepped around Lorena and faced Neala and the Wolvites. “Don’t you come one step closer. I’ll get this sorted.”
The Wolvites bristled, low growls coming from between their clenched teeth. Fury and warning filled the air and crackled around Lorena like static.
A horn sounded from the driveway.
Neala pointed to Dafydd. “Get him out of here,” she told the Wolvites. She hissed at Lorena. “And you’re coming with me, liar.”
Lorena jerked forward, as though something had pulled her, and stumbled to the edge of the patio. She shrieked.
“Oh no you don’t.” Deacon rushed forward.
To Lorena’s surprise, he barreled past her and at Neala. He ducked down and scooped his sister up, and flung her over his shoulder. Neala screamed and flailed. Lorena stood in place, terrified.
The two Wolvites lunged forward, but suddenly stopped. Lorena was confused, then she saw what had stopped them.
Dr. Winston held a pistol in his hand, and he had it to Dafydd’s head. “Don’t come any closer. And if there’s any of you out in the trees, you should advise them to stand down as well.”
Lorena gaped.
The Wolvites didn’t come closer. Neala pounded on Deacon’s back.
Then, to Lorena’s further shock, Deacon reached behind him and whipped a similar pistol out of his belt, from underneath his shirt.
“You better calm the hell down,” he warned Neala. “Or I’ll shoot every one of you.” He aimed his gun at the Wolvites. “Get outta here!”
Lorena clutched her hair. “Deacon, what the hell are you doing? Are you insane?”
Neala slumped across her brother’s back, panting and seething. “You’re dead. You’re all dead!”
Chapter 10
Deacon opened the front door and stepped out on the porch. Jack’s truck sat in the driveway and Jack stood in the front yard. He squinted at Deacon. “What the hell are you doin’?”
Deacon came down the steps, but kept his distance at the bottom, lest Jack smell the Wolvite on him. “Ain’t doing nothing.” He tucked his hands in his jeans pockets. “Didn’t I tell you not to come over here?”
“You really expect me to stay away?” Jack screwed up his face. “Why’d you tell Uncle Ray and them not to come over here tonight? You can’t face them bastards by yourself.”
“Ain’t nothing to face.” He didn’t look him in the eye, because Jack was too damn good at reading him. “They ain’t coming.”
“How you know that?”
Deacon kicked at the grass. He couldn’t pretend everything was fine, but he hadn’t exactly thought up a good story yet. “They told Lorena.”
Jack took a step forward. Deacon stepped back. At least the wind wasn’t blowing.
“Go on home.” Deacon motioned to Jack’s truck. “Nothing’s gonna happen here tonight, like I told Daddy on the phone.”
Jack looked at the house. Clem was going wild inside.
“Why’s Clem barking?”
“Probably ‘cause you’re out here. You know he loses his mind when anyone comes over.”
Jack stared at him, that needling gaze of his. “What’s going on? You can’t hide things from me.”
Deacon grimaced and looked down at the ground.
“You get in a fight with Lorena?”
Deacon blinked a few times. He lifted his head.
“Is that what this is?” Jack smirked. “You tanglin’ with her? That why you’re acting all skittish? She got your hackles up?”
Deacon breathed an inward sigh of relief. Now he just had to make sure not to drop the thread.
“Well.” Deacon rubbed the back of his neck. “Turns out she talked to the Wolvites last night, and I don’t none care for that. So, yeah…we’ve had a few words. But they ain’t coming tonight, that’s the gist of it.”
“When they coming?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I expect she’ll tell me that, too. Reckon she’ll keep in contact with them.” He tried to pull a sour face.
“You make sure you let me know, let us all know.” He glanced at the house again. “You sure you’re safe?”
“Safe as we ever are.”
“Maybe we ought to do a sweep of the woods. If she was talking to them, they might be close, sniffing around.”
Deacon waved a hand. “I checked. Ain’t nothing around. You go on home and hunker down too, just in case. We all need to be on guard right now.”
Jack nodded, but still stood there. If Deacon could get close to him, he’d hurry him to his truck.
“I’ll call you later tonight, all right?” Deacon glanced at the driveway. “I need to…have a talk with her.”
“Don’t she know it’s dangerous, talking to them things? You can’t have sensible words with them.”
“I reckon she don’t, but I aim to teach her.”
“Well, all right.” Jack softened his voice. “Don’t be too hard on her, though. A good woman is hard to find.”
Jack finally went to his truck. Deacon stood outside until he backed up and rumbled down the driveway. When his taillights disappeared, Deacon rushed back in the house.
The first thing that hit him was the rotten stench of Wolvite. The second thing was Lorena, who flew at him and pounded on his chest with her fists.
“Are you stupid!” she shrieked. “Why did you do that? Do you realize you could have gotten me killed? I made a promise. They could have killed all of us!”
He let her wail on him. She wasn’t really laying punches, she was just frustrated.
She backed off, her eyes wild. “Why did you have weapons? Neala might have taken me away right then and there, don’t you understand that?”
Deacon looked past her, down the hallway. “I reckon you got him inside? I can smell him.”
He strode past her and down the hallway. Clem was in the closed-off bedroom, barking up a storm.
“I can’t believe you two did this.” She followed hot on his heels. “How could you go behind my back and do something so dangerous?”
In the kitchen, the dirty stinking Wolvite was laid out on the floor, still bound to hi
s stretcher. The doctor stood over him, gun in hand. And Mel, that evil black witch, was bound to a chair, one of Deacon’s t-shirts tied around her neck and stuffed in her mouth to make a gag.
“She give you a fight?” Deacon asked.
“No.” The doctor was calm. “She was quite complacent while I had the gun to her mate’s head. Lorena tied her up.”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Lorena paced the kitchen. “I can’t believe you two did this. They’ll be coming for us. They’ll kill us.”
“They won’t do anything while we have these two.” Deacon loomed over Mel. She kicked at him with her dirty feet and twisted her duct-taped hands behind her. “They’ll be too afraid we’ll kill them.”
Mel snarled at him behind the fabric.
“Now.” Deacon reached behind him and slipped the pistol out of his belt. “Here’s what you’re gonna do, you wicked harpy.”
Mel fell still and stared at the gun.
“You’re gonna take that damn spell off my woman. Or else, I’m gonna put that sick dog of yours down.” He pointed the pistol at the Wolvite. “Your choice.”
Mel looked between Deacon and the Wolvite. He struggled to ignore the fact she had their Mama’s eyes.
“If you don’t take the spell off her, I’m gonna have to get Grammy over here and see if she can do it. I know how much she liked you. She’d like to work some magic on you too, I reckon.”
Lorena stepped up beside him. “Deacon.”
“Take it off her,” Deacon said firmly. “Or rabies is gonna be the least of his problems.”
The Wolvite snuffled and twitched.
Mel squirmed, making muffled sounds behind the gag.
Deacon yanked it down. “Last time we met like this, we were in opposite positions. Ain’t so fun on that side, is it?”
“You’re all going to die.” Mel’s chest worked hard, her eyes full of fire. “They’ll tear you apart.”
“Yeah, we’re all gonna die.” Deacon flexed his finger on the trigger. “Question is, who’s gonna go first?”
Mel stared at her mate and strained against the chains wrapped around her. They’d used Clem’s leashes.
“Fine,” she spat. “Lorena, give me the stone.”
