Werewolves of Shade (Part Five) (Beautiful Immortals Series Book 5)

by Tim O'Rourke

Sliding the gun back into the holster strapped to my thigh, I went to the hole in the wall where I presumed there had once been a door. I stood and watched Calix head for a nearby crop of trees at the foot of the hill in the opposite direction from the track that led back to the church. Pulling my hood up against the wind, I set off after him.

  At a jog, I caught up with Calix as he reached the treeline. He stepped amongst the trees and into the shade. Placing his coat down amongst the dead leaves that covered the ground, Calix said, “It’s one thing to shoot a static object, but the vampires won’t stand still – they move fast. I saw one last night. It moved at lightning speed. If you have any chance of shooting one of the fuckers then you’ll need to have some practice at firing at a moving object.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Me,” he said.

  “Are you kidding?” I said right back. “What if I shoot you?”

  “No chance,” he smiled again, before darting away.

  I lost sight of him amongst the knotted and twisted tree trunks. “Calix?” I called out into the growing gloom.

  “Come find me, Mila!” I heard him shout.

  I cocked my head in the direction of his voice.

  “What are you waiting for?” I heard him say, his voice coming now from the opposite direction. I spun around as I was drawn deeper and deeper amongst the trees. “The vampires won’t give you time to wait – they won’t be so patient with you before they rip your heart out!”

  I edged deeper still into the crop of trees. Something sped past to my right. I spun around, squeezing blindly down on the trigger and releasing a bullet from the gun. It screamed into the nearest tree trunk, thick splinters of bark exploding into the air.

  “You’ll have to be quicker than that,” I heard Calix whisper over my shoulder.

  Flinching with surprise, I spun around, only to see Calix darting away again at speed. I released another shot. The bullet thundered into the nearest tree. How did he move so fast?! I heard movement behind me. I spun around, feeling ever more dizzy and disorientated. From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement to my right. I twisted in that direction, gun poised. More movement, but this time to my left. I lurched around and fired off a shot. The bullet zinged away and into the gloom.

  “Not good enough, Mila!” I heard Calix shout from some way off.

  I set off slowly in that direction. With each step I took over the broken foliage, I was careful to tread as quietly as I could.

  Movement to my left, then right. In front of me, then behind. I spun around and around, firing one shot after another, top lip curled up into a snarl. Ahead I saw Calix dash at speed between two trees. I reloaded the gun as I crept forward. A fleeting shadow to my right and I spun in that direction, squeezing down on the trigger. The gun boomed in my fist as the bullet rocketed down the barrel and in the direction of the fleeting shadow I had seen.

  With the sound of the gun firing still ringing in my ears, I heard Calix cry out, then fall silent.

  “Calix!” I shouted, stepping forward, gun still raised. Was he tricking me? I called out his name again, but there was no answer. I continued to tread carefully in the direction I heard him cry out. I glanced left and right, half expecting him to jump out at me.

  “Calix?” I called out again.

  Silence.

  “If this is some sort of a joke, it isn’t funny any...” I stopped dead in my tracks. Ahead I could see Calix lying face down in the leaves. A river ran close to where he was lying. “Calix?” I whispered.

  He didn’t move.

  Sliding the gun into its holster, I ran toward Calix. And with each hurried step I took, I could see ever more clearly the thick black trail of blood leaking from beneath his body and down over the leaves and toward the river.

  Chapter Ten

  “Calix?” I whispered, drawing level with his lifeless-looking body.

  What had I done? Had I killed him? I watched the blood trickle away from beneath Calix and toward the riverbank near to his feet. This close I could see the writing that was scrawled over his upper body. To look at it was in some way mesmerizing. It seemed to shift and move – ripple even like the water that flowed in the river. It was like the writing was alive. Tentatively, I reached out with one trembling hand. I wanted to roll Calix over, onto his back so I could see where I’d shot him – to see if I could help in some way. The writing continued its enchanting flow across his body as I reached out to touch him – to touch it.

  With my fingertips just millimetres from his flesh, Calix suddenly sprang to his feet. In shock, I cried out, stumbling backwards. Calix reached for me, gripping me by the shoulders and driving me back into the nearest tree trunk.

  “Where is your gun?” he shouted at me. “Where is your gun?”

  “I thought you were dead,” I said, my heart thumping in my chest, in my ears and throat.

  “I’m not dead and nor will the vampires be!” he roared. “You never put your gun away until you know your enemy is truly dead.”

  “But…” I started.

  “No buts, Mila!” he shouted. “This is real. It’s not a game – this isn’t like those stories you’ve been brainwashed with. If you let down you’re guard tonight you’ll be fucking dead. Dead!”

  “What do you care?” I shouted back, pushing him away from me. “What do I care?” he said looking as if I’d slapped him. “I care about you, Mila.”

  “Care about me?” I scoffed. “You have a funny way of show…”

  Before I could finish, Calix was crushing his lips against mine. He kissed with such a passion and intensity I had never felt before. It was like I was having the life sucked out of me. I tried to twist away, but Calix held me tight to him. I could feel the hardness of his chest and stomach against me. My mind swam with pictures of Flint holding me in his arms and kissing me. I squeezed my eyes shut, desperate to drive them away. In their place I saw Rush kissing me. But both men’s kisses had lacked the hunger and desire that Calix now kissed me with. Squeezing my eyes shut tighter still, I began to kiss Calix back with the same appetite that he was kissing me with. I felt his hands slide down the length of my back and over the swell of my arse as he pulled me into him. I lost my hands in his dark unruly hair as our tongues prodded and entwined with each other’s. Calix moved one hand beneath my hoodie, his fingers greedily working their way over my soft flesh and up toward my breasts. I knew that I should stop this, but the feelings Calix now stirred in me were too strong – too good to ever want to stop. What was happening was a mistake, I kept trying to tell myself over and over again. But the sound of my racing heart and the feverish feeling of excitement that was now exploding all over my skin dominated all reasoning and my rational senses. As Calix’s fingers worked their way toward my bra strap, I slid my fingers from his hair and down his back. At once he broke our kiss and lurched backwards.

  Arching his back as if in the midst of some violent seizure, Calix cried out in pain. With his face twisted into a mask of utter torment, he clawed at his chest and back. It was then I saw what at first I had believed to be blood. It seemed to be leaking from the strange looking words that had been tattooed over his chest and back. With my clothes and hair dishevelled, I watched powerless as Calix contorted in pain before me.

  “What’s happening?” I gasped.

  “The writing…” Calix cried out, staggering toward the riverbank.

  As he went, I could see that the words were now running down the length of his back, chest, and arms in streams of black ink. It was like the words were bleeding. Was that what I had seen leaking from beneath Calix as I had believed him to be lying dead on the ground?

  “What can I do to help you?” I stepped away from tree, feeling panicky and confused. Only moments ago Calix had been kissing me deeper than any man ever had and now he was roaring in pain.

  “My flesh feels like its burning up…” he cried out, staggering into the water. It splashed against his ankles, then his knees and thighs as he w
aded further out into the river.

  With my boots still on, I ran into the water after him. The water was cold. I made my way toward Calix, who stood bent forward, scooping up handfuls of water and splashing it against his tattooed skin. Standing behind Calix, I cupped my hands, filling them with icy water. I poured it over his back; washing away the black ink that bled from the words that covered his body. Again, the words seemed to twist then reform. It was like some new kind of script was being written over his body. As the new words formed new sentences and paragraphs over his flesh, the black ink slowly stopped leaking from them.

  Still bent forward at the waist, Calix drew in several deep lungfuls of air. I reached for him, gently placing my fingertips against his back.

  “Don’t touch,” he said, flinching away from me.

  It wasn’t the first time he had said that to me. He had given me such a warning the day he had come to fix a new lock to my front door. Back then I thought it was all part of his arrogant-jerk act.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, watching him slowly straighten up.

  “It hurts, that’s all,” he winced through gritted teeth.

  “What is that writing…what does it say?” I asked him.

  “It’s a spell…” he said, washing away the last of the ink that smeared his body.

  “A spell?” I asked, eyes wide with surprise. “Who wrote it on you?”

  “The witch,” he said, before wading back toward the riverbank.

  Chapter Eleven

  “The witch!” I gasped, ploughing my way through the fast flowing water and back toward the riverbank. “You knew her?”

  “Yeah, I knew her,” Calix said, shaking water from his hair and wiping his face with his hands. “But I’d rather not talk about her.”

  “Not talk about her?” I said, climbing from the water. I slipped and Calix was quick to grasp me by the arm. He pulled me up into a standing position. “Why won’t you talk about the witch?”

  “Because what happened was in the past and that’s where it should be left,” he said, letting go of my arm and walking away, back in the direction we had come.

  I followed him. I wanted to tell Calix the truth about why I had really come to Shade. If I was honest with him for the first time then perhaps he would be honest with me. Catching up with him, I took a deep breath and said, “I don’t really come from Twisted Den, Calix, I’m from Maze.”

  “Whoopee-do,” he grunted. “You don’t think I hadn’t figured that out – you don’t think any of us hadn’t figured you’d been lying about that?”

  I felt suddenly red-faced. “So you all know I’ve been lying?”

  “Pretty much,” he said, glancing sideways at me and smiling.

  I was glad that it wasn’t that oh-so-smug smile, but the nice one that I had seen on his face earlier. We drew level with the treeline and I watched Calix stoop down and pluck up his coat from where he had left it. He put it on, covering the new rows of strange handwriting that covered his body. He looked at me. I searched his eyes. Could I really trust him with the truth? Of all the people I had met in Shade, Calix had been the very last person I believed I would have ever confided in. But we had kissed, and perhaps we might have shared more if he hadn’t pulled away from me in pain. Shouldn’t I be glad that our kiss hadn’t led to anything more? There was a small part of me that wished perhaps we had taken things further. I felt conflicted by that. Wasn’t the truth that Calix’s kiss had been so intoxicating that I had simply got lost in the moment? I should now be grateful that he pulled away before something happened that I would only later very much regret. But I wasn’t so sure I felt anything like that.

  So hoping that if I placed some of my trust in him he might do the same with me, I said, “I came to Shade to look for my parents. They went missing about ten years ago and…”

  “Why are you telling me this now?” Calix asked.

  “Because you said you cared,” I told him. “And I can’t lie anymore. I don’t want to be lied to anymore.”

  “Who’s lied to you?” he said.

  “I just feel that people in Shade are keeping secrets…”

  “What people?”

  “Rush, Rea… you,” I said.

  “I’ve only ever told you the truth,” Calix said.

  “So how long ago did you come to Shade?” I said, watching him.

  “What did Rush tell you?” he shot back.

  “You don’t really care,” I shrugged, stepping away and heading out of the crop of trees. “That was one lie you told me.”

  I felt Calix’s fingers curl around my arm as he dragged me back toward him. “How do I know I can trust you?”

  “I kissed you, didn’t I?” I said.

  “You’ve kissed my brother, haven’t you?” he said right back at me, his stare intense.

  “Jealous?” I asked, tugging my arm free of his grip.

  At first Calix said nothing. He looked over my shoulder and back toward Shade, then back at me. “My people have been in Shade longer than ten years,” he finally confessed. “I came here ten years ago because the village had been made safe… made safe by the witch.”

  “My parents came here about ten years ago,” I told him, hoping at last that I was getting somewhere close to the truth. “Did you ever see them?”

  “No,” he said.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because they would’ve been strangers and they would’ve stood out – just like you did when you showed up. You’re the only stranger I’ve ever come across in Shade,” Calix explained.

  “My uncle told me that my parents came to Shade and they went missing along with everyone else,” I said.

  “As you can see, the people of Shade never went missing, we’re all still here,” Calix said. “The spell cast over Shade by the witch made it appear to the outside world that we’d all vanished. She did it to protect us.”

  “But why protect the people of Shade and no one else?” I asked. “Why not my people, too?”

  “Perhaps you didn’t need protecting?” Calix simply shrugged.

  “So where is this witch now?” I pushed, asking the very next question that came into my head. I had so many questions that it was hard for me to list them in any kind of order.

  “Some say she is dead,” Calix said. “At first I believed that too, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because the writing is changing,” he said, sliding one hand beneath his coat and touching it with his fingertips. “It hurts sometimes. It can be painful.” Then sliding his hand way, Calix said, “It’s getting dark. We should be heading back to the graveyard to meet with the others.”

  Cutting our confessions dead, Calix strode out from beneath the crop of trees and into the field.

  “Wait!” I called after him.

  “What?” he said, stopping in his tracks and glancing back at me.

  “Rush said that you put that writing all over you – he said you did so because you didn’t want to forget home – from where you had come from,” I said.

  “It was the witch who wrote these words on me,” he said, pulling open his coat and revealing his marked chest and stomach in the fast fading light. “It was the witch who didn’t want me to forget.”

  “Forget what?” I asked.

  “Forget her magic,” he said, letting the flaps of his long, dark coat full shut again.

  Then the one question that I’d always wanted answering forced its way to the forefront of my mind. “What was her name?”

  “Julia,” Calix said. “Julia Miller.”

  Turning his back to me once more, Calix strode away in the direction of the church and its graveyard.

  Chapter Twelve

  So the witch I had heard so much about was Julia Miller – the teacher I had replaced in Shade. I wasn’t sure how knowing such a thing made me feel. I felt confused for sure. She had cast a spell over Shade and left one written across Calix’s body. Did any
of what I had just learnt make any sense? Had it done anything to shine a light on the puzzle that I was trying to solve? Calix was adamant that my parents had never reached Shade, and if that was true where, were they now and what had really happened to them? Had they been taken – or worse, killed before reaching the village they had come in search of? Perhaps they had arrived prior to Rea, Calix, and Rush. Was this something else Rush had lied about? Rush had told me the village was empty when he’d first arrived. But perhaps from his perspective the village was empty? The witch had placed a spell over it to make it appear to the outside world that everyone had gone missing in Shade. But Rush had also told me that Julia Miller had come from Switzerland with them. Did that mean she had travelled with them? Perhaps she had been in Shade before, made it safe, and they had followed? It seemed that with every answer I found, it came loaded with a hundred more questions that needed to be answered.

  With my head down and lost to my own thoughts, I followed Calix back across the field. I was surprised that he had told me so much, and I was grateful to him for that at least. And again, I couldn’t help but wonder if at first I had been too quick to misjudge Calix. He had made himself so unlikable to me. But if I’d found him that unlikeable, why had I let him kiss me – why had I kissed him back? Why hadn’t I gone to Rea and told her how he had spied on me in the shower, how I’d woken to find him in my room. If I’d found his behaviour really that abhorrent, wouldn’t I have reported him to Rea, the woman I had originally believed was his lover? Why hadn’t I? Was there a part of me that had secretly been flattered by his constant and unwanted attention?

  I let my mind wander away from thoughts of Calix and to my uncle – I felt too guilty to think about Flint. And what of my uncle? He had been sure that my mother and father had reached Shade. He had written about it in his newspaper. He had written about the villagers that had gone missing. Had my uncle been wrong about that, too? It seemed that despite his many journeys beyond Maze, he had found out very little truth about the world beyond it. He had given me bullets and a crucifix – weapons that were proved useless against the vampires and werewolves. And even if he did believe them to hold some power over the Beautiful Immortals, why give them to me if he believed that they were all dead – all turned to dust? None of it appeared to make any sense whatsoever. Was it really that my uncle knew very little about the Beautiful Immortals? Perhaps he didn’t venture very far at all from Maze. Perhaps he stayed locked up in his little shack and only pretended to travel beyond Maze. Was that why he told me not to venture into the shack in his absence? Maybe he was scared of what lurked in the shadows beyond Maze. And if that was true, why did he let me leave? Could he have stopped me? Not a chance. Wasn’t I, therefore, being a little too harsh and suspicious of my uncle? He had always been good to me. He had raised me as if I were his daughter. But I couldn’t help feeling suspicious. I now found myself feeling wary and mistrustful of everyone. Who could I really trust if not my uncle? I wasn’t so sure that I could trust the old gravedigger. He had given me a box of bullets that could have blown my head clean off! Or was he just a little senile like Calix believed him to be? And what about Calix? I glanced up at him as he reached the wall. He looked back in search of me as I lagged someway behind. I really hoped that I could trust him. But that niggling paranoia I so often felt these days just wouldn’t go away. It gnawed at the corners of my mind – it reminded me that Calix, despite his skills at kissing, had a dark and brooding side to his character. There was a darkness about the man – like he walked in the shadow of some past secret. Why had the witch marked him? Why had Julia Miller written a spell over him? Perhaps she hadn’t cast a spell over him at all – perhaps it was a curse she had stained Calix’s flesh with.