by Nick Stead
As for my friendship with Leon, I couldn’t help but grow close to him, despite my initial misgivings around his motives and the wisdom in placing my trust in him. I was already beginning to regard him like a brother and when we weren’t training, we would enjoy more gaming time or watching movies in his home cinema, or simply chatting over a drink. Human luxuries I’d never expected to experience again, but which helped fill the emptiness I’d fallen into since attempting to leave the human world behind. And the vampire was much easier to get on with than Lady Sarah had been, even though he was far older. He was more open with me for a start, more ‘human’ I supposed, and the friend I’d sorely needed. I was content in his company, surrounded by all the comforts I’d been missing, but I had to remind myself there was a reason I’d sought him out and it wouldn’t do to delay too long. The time had come to prove my innocence to Ulfarr and the other undead.
Chapter Twenty Two – Quest to Prove My Innocence
“Leon, it’s been like two weeks since the last full moon and there’s been three of them since I first arrived, and we haven’t even talked about the real reason I came here yet,” I said. “Isn’t it time we started working on clearing my name?”
“Why, are you growing bored already?” he asked.
“No and I don’t mean to seem ungrateful; you have no idea how badly I needed these last couple of months after struggling to adapt to being on my own and without any of the things I took for granted in my human life. That’s why I haven’t said anything sooner. But if we delay any longer, doesn’t that give Ulfarr more time to move against us? If there’s been more murders, won’t he be working his audience up into even more of a frenzy? If this place is only hidden to humans that means I’m not all that safe from them here, and if they come in force the two of us can’t stand against a mob the size of the crowd that came to my last trial. Isn’t there a risk they might just show up one night and kill me right here, before I have chance to get away?”
“You’re right, I suppose,” he sighed. “Okay, you told me that first night you think you’ve discovered who the real killer is, but you haven’t said much else about it since then. Tell me more of what you know.”
“I think it’s a witch called Selina, if that’s even her real name. She had a black dog familiar but I’ve not seen owt like it before. It had these glowing red eyes and it was like it was made from shadows, but it had no trouble pinning me down and it felt to be strong. I saw it standing over the body of a vampire and I’m pretty sure something like that could easily overpower any undead. I’ve been wondering if this is another of the Slayers’ pet spellcasters and they’ve put her up to framing me to make us turn on each other, so she’s using the dog creature to make it look like werewolf kills.”
Leon’s eyes widened as I talked. “The black dog you describe sounds like a barghest. They are indeed formidable creatures capable of preying on other supernatural beings, as well as mortals. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of a witch summon one and bind him to her will, and as far as I know only witchcraft can stop them.”
“Great, so we’re fucked if the witch sends it after us. All the more reason to try and stop her, don’t you think?”
“Indeed, but just how do you propose we go about finding some evidence to back up your theory?”
I slumped back in my chair, suddenly feeling dejected. Why couldn’t anything be straightforward anymore? To Leon I said “I’d hoped you’d think of something. We could go back to Selina’s cottage I suppose and hope to find something there. You don’t have to come with me though. Judging from what you just said about her familiar, it’ll be dangerous going back there. I understand if you’d rather I went alone.”
“No, I think I will join you. If Selina is doing this to frame you then I suspect you won’t have anything to fear from the barghest, though I may well be putting my own life at risk. But two sets of eyes are better than one. If there is any proof to be found in the cottage, we’re more likely to find it with two of us.”
I nodded gratefully to him. “The only thing is, I’m not sure exactly how far the cottage was from here and it might take some finding. The sun hasn’t been down that long but sunrise is at what, around five-ish at the moment? That’s only about eight hours of darkness to find and explore the place, and then get back here.”
“If needs be, I will have to shelter elsewhere through the day until we can return here tomorrow night. But I do not believe it will come to that. If you let your wolf half guide you, I suspect he will be able to find the way back without too much trouble, and in wolf form you should be able to cover the ground easy enough in the time we have. And I will have no trouble keeping pace beside you.”
“Okay, but if I’m going to transform I’ll need to eat first to keep my energy up. Could you fetch me a deer or something?”
Leon raised an eyebrow. “You may be my guest here, but that doesn’t mean you should expect me to wait on you hand and foot.”
“Yeah but we only have so long, and it would save time if you could bring me some meat while I transform. If I have to hunt for it myself, we’ll be losing valuable journey time.”
“True. Very well then, come outside and take your wolf form, and I will go hunt.”
“Cheers mate.”
I stripped off and followed him through the front door, wasting no time in starting the transformation once outside. The vampire ran off into the woods while my body shifted from human to wolf. There came the familiar stab of pain within my stomach as guts twisted, the aching of my bones as they elongated or shortened to fit their new form, and my flesh stretched outwards to cover new structures – most notably my lupine snout and tail. It was over in minutes, but that was all the time Leon needed to make a kill and bring it back to me. He reappeared between the trees just as the last of the changes completed, and I caught the scent of the fresh meat in a wave of mouth-watering hunger. I bounded across the grounds to meet him, enjoying the powerful feeling of my wolf form and the ease with which my four paws carried me over the earth.
Another deer carcass hung limply in Leon’s arms, its head swinging from side to side as the vampire continued towards me. As I drew closer, he dropped the kill for me to feed on and waited patiently while I gorged myself, then it was time to call on my wolfish half to guide us back to the witch’s cottage.
I was wary of the vampire, even though my human half had grown close to him. But time was of the essence if I wanted to clear my name before the rest of the vampires sentenced me to death, so I had no option but to co-operate with my human half and trust that it knew what it was doing.
Finding my way back to the witch’s cottage was easy enough. It was a long run but even mortal wolves have great stamina, so I was able to cover the miles effortlessly. Leon kept pace beside me, just as graceful on two legs as I was on all fours. The land rushed by us in a blur, harried at times by strong gusts of wind but we pushed on. Fortunately it was not the constant gale I’d suffered through the winter months and so it failed to slow us.
When the cottage first came into view, it was nothing more than a dark shape almost lost in the blackness of the night, and we were also fortunate in that the witch seemed to be out again. We slowed and proceeded onwards with more caution, straining our senses for the monstrous shadow dog Leon had called a barghest. I could hear nothing besides my own panting and the steady beating of my heart in my chest, and the faint sounds made by the vampire creeping forward beside me. Nor did any scents come to me on the breeze, but after last time I knew that meant nothing. The barghest had seemingly materialised out of nowhere, without the warning signs I would have picked up from a flesh and blood creature. It seemed the only sense I could rely on was my sight, a strange feeling for a canid. My hearing and sense of smell were so finely attuned to the world around me that I was so used to detecting potential threats through sound and scent alone. Often I would be aware of something approaching long before it came close enough for my eyes to see it, and I felt uneasy facing
a creature I wouldn’t be aware of until it came into view. Yet in spite of feeling less than confident against the shadowy threat, there were no glowing red eyes waiting for us as we drew closer. I knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything either after the way it had just appeared before, but with each step we took without any sign of the barghest, the higher our hopes that the witch hadn’t left it guarding her domain.
I suspected similar thoughts were going through the vampire’s mind, as he said “So far so good but stay alert. You might want to transform back while things are quiet, unless you’d rather manage searching as best you can on four legs.”
Unlike Lady Sarah, this vampire still spoke in English, but I could understand him well enough. I debated the wisdom of changing back. It would sap some of my strength which I would need if it came to a fight with the shadow beast, but looking round the cottage would be easier on two legs – I’d have the advantage of height to get a good look at the shelves and on the table once we were inside. I supposed I ought to let the human take over since this was its idea to come back here, so I left the decision to my other half.
“Nick?” Leon asked, unsure if I’d understood him. “It might be an idea to transform back now while there’s no sign of the barghest, unless you think it’s better to stay in wolf form.”
Like my lupine half, I knew I needed my full supernatural strength to face the black dog if it turned up. But the whole point of coming back was to try and find some proof that Selina was behind the killings, and it would be a more thorough search if I was on two legs rather than four. In the end I opted for a compromise, taking the transformation just halfway to my hybrid form so I didn’t use as much of my energy, and so I remained more powerful than if I was fully human. The vampire nodded approvingly.
We trod carefully as we approached the doorway, and I wondered if it wasn’t just the barghest to worry about. What if the witch had placed some kind of magical booby trap on the place, if such a thing existed? Could crossing the threshold uninvited trigger some kind of a spell she’d placed as she left her home? If Leon had any similar concerns he didn’t voice them, but I could feel the tension emanating from him like a physical force as he tried the door. It was open, which I found ominous. Perhaps the witch just didn’t expect unwanted visitors, or perhaps it was a sign that there was some kind of magical security in place, something we couldn’t sense.
I held my breath as we stepped inside, half expecting flames to spring up around us or some kind of curse to strike us down. My heart beat faster in response to my fears and my senses strained to pick up any hint of danger. But we passed through the doorway unharmed, and still there was no sign of the black dog familiar lurking in the shadows. Shakily I exhaled again, not yet allowing myself the luxury of relief. Just because we’d been able to enter unharmed, it didn’t necessarily mean we were safe, and I wouldn’t relax until we were back at Leon’s mansion. And of course we had no way of knowing how long we had before Selina returned to her home. We needed to keep our wits about us in case she came back while we were still searching, though at least our heightened senses should be able to pick up her approach with enough time to make our escape.
There was no fire burning in the hearth this time and even our supernatural eyes struggled to penetrate the blackness as we stepped further into the room. Leon grabbed a candle from the nearest shelf and produced a box of matches from a pocket.
“Where did you get those?” I whispered as best I could, which was something of a challenge in my lupine state.
“I grabbed them on our way out, figured they’d come in handy,” the vampire replied normally. “Why are you whispering?”
I shrugged. “It felt safer to whisper.”
“If the barghest’s nearby, he already knows we’re here. Whispering won’t save us.”
“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “It just made me feel better.”
I was glad of the faint glow from the candle flame which provided enough light to get a good look at the tools of witchcraft stored on the shelves, and it made watching for the barghest somewhat easier. But it also meant the shadows we cast crept around after us, and the movement only made me edgier.
There was nothing new to see when Leon checked in the cupboards, and I was disappointed to find no evidence of the witch’s involvement in the murders when I searched the table. I honestly don’t know what I’d been expecting to find there, that night. I examined the small bones with my clawed hands in the hopes there might be something there, but they all seemed to be from animals. No vampire fangs lay scattered among them, nor any I recognised as part of a humanoid skeleton – not that humanoid bones would have meant anything without some way to prove if they’d been human or vampire.
“Do you see anything out of the ordinary?” Leon asked. “Anything that might help our case?”
“No,” I growled, rifling through the spellbook for any sign of a ritual involving the deaths of vampires on the off chance her reasons for killing them were rooted in the occult, rather than as part of some new plot devised by the Slayers. Still there was nothing. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, but without any kind of proof of the witch’s guilt to take back with us, I was at a loss for how else to clear my name.
“We should go,” the vampire said. “It’s not safe for us to linger too long here.”
“Yeah I know. But when we get back to the mansion, what then? How the hell are we going to convince the others of my innocence now?”
“Worry about that later; we need to make it back to the mansion first. We’ve been lucky not to encounter the barghest, but the witch could return at any moment. We need to leave before she catches us here.”
He had a point so I tried to focus on the journey back and staying alert for any hint of danger along the way, but my mind kept straying to the question of what next. Short of catching Selina or her familiar in the act, I couldn’t see any other way to clear my name, and no matter how hard I concentrated on searching the shadows for more imminent threats, I couldn’t keep the sense of doom from creeping over me.
Leon blew out the candle he’d been carrying, darkness engulfing us the instant the flame was extinguished. He returned it to the shelf he’d grabbed it from and we made our way back out of the cottage, my feeling that Death was coming for me only increasing once the impenetrable shadows returned. Twice I was sure I’d seen movement in the blackness and we paused, readying ourselves for an attack, but the room remained still and quiet. Despite my dark expectations, we were able to pass back through the doorway unscathed, out into the surrounding blackness of the moors.
And then we saw the glowing red eyes seemingly floating in the darkness ahead. The barghest was here after all, and he was coming for us.
Chapter Twenty Three – Enemies Abound
The black shadow dog charged us, Leon barely managing to draw his sword before it pounced on him. Taken by surprise and facing a creature possessing supernatural speed and strength similar to our own, he never had chance to slash at the barghest, and the blade clattered out of his hand as he fell to the ground, pinned down by the beast. I threw myself at the creature and succeeded in knocking it off of the vampire, the two of us rolling away in a tangle of teeth and claws. We snapped at each other but even though my jaws closed round the other canid a couple of times, my fangs could inflict no damage on the shadow dog. But its teeth were capable of tearing flesh just as effectively as any mortal beast and I received a variety of cuts in our initial struggle, though none were serious enough to do anything more than call to my rage as nerves sparked with that stinging pain of flesh wounds.
Leon retrieved his sword and regained his feet just as we two canids broke apart, before the barghest charged once more. And like the first time I’d faced it, I was reminded again of the night I’d been bitten by the black werewolf, and the way he’d singled me out. But this time it was my friend who was the target. The black dog had seemingly lost interest in me, lunging again at Leon.
The vampir
e was ready for it this time, his blade flashing through the air in a deadly arc intended to sever the beast’s head. But as the sword passed through the shadow creature, the thing’s form merely collapsed into a kind of black cloud barely visible in the slither of moonlight, before reforming in a wave of primal fury. Its jaws closed around Leon’s sword arm and savaged the limb until its fangs shredded the material of the vampire’s jacket and the flesh beneath, bloody strips hanging down. The barghest had made such a mess of the vampire’s arm that it was impossible to tell the material from the ruined flesh in the darkness, and if he’d been mortal the limb would no doubt have been ruined beyond repair. As it was, Leon temporarily lost use of the arm and he dropped his blade a second time.
I re-joined the fray, snapping and clawing at the shadow beast to try and distract it long enough for Leon to get away. The black dog growled and released its grip on the vampire’s arm, only to clamp its jaws round him again, this time sinking fangs into his right leg. Even with the near full force of my lupine strength, I strained against the beast’s might in an attempt to wrestle it off my friend. I managed to prise its maw off Leon’s leg and struggled to pull its head away so I could pin it down. Somehow I managed inch by inch to push it to the ground.
“Run,” I grunted. “I’ll be fine; it’s you the barghest wants.”
Leon nodded and limped off. I had no idea how vampire healing worked but if he couldn’t regenerate the ruined flesh of his limbs without feeding, I needed to buy him as much time as I could. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I could hold the barghest down for long, the beast thrashing beneath me as I fought to keep it there.
