Awakening the Red Claws

by C P Sennett

It was the lycan girl again. The one I had seen earlier, the one I now guessed was Nadia. I dropped the window a little, so she could speak.

  “What’s your name?” I asked, wanting to be sure.

  “Nadia.” she replied with a nice sounding local voice, softer than London or Essex accents, she spoke well. “Eddie Holt, we need to get moving as we don’t have much time. Can I get in as I’m naked here?”

  I mean, I could hardly say no anyhow.

  “Er, sure.” I stumbled then she ducked down out of view. Then with a flash of flesh and a light bang on the roof of the Range Rover she appeared at the passenger door and opened it.

  “That was pretty impressive.” I said as she got in the passenger side and yes, she was naked.

  I looked away and straight ahead to save her blushes. It seemed the right thing to do. “I’ve got a sheet in the boot. I’ll get it for you.” I suggested.

  The she wolf replied. “No time or need, we need to get to the meeting now Mr Holt. I’m ok with the no clothes option so please, you should be.”

  I paused for a second. I was but this was a bit odd to say the least. Also, the girls living in my house had made me a little more sensitive to where my eyes should and shouldn’t be looking. “Sure, want me to turn the air conditioning up a little?” I asked, joking.

  “No, I don’t get cold. Sorry Eddie but we need to drive. Once you are out of the car park then make a right.” she said, all business like. As I started the Beast I did look across as her. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t help it, male genes I guess.

  Nadia was tall and slim seeing her now and she sat with the awkward posture of a teenager tall and all hunched over. However, she wasn’t hunched over to hide her modesty. It just seemed to be how she naturally sat. Her arms actually positioned neutrally on her thighs she didn’t try to hide her figure at all.

  She was a nice looking girl, I guessed of about 18 maybe, long medium brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty face with some freckles still showing on them as she had her long hair tucked behind her ears.

  It was at this point I decided to focus on driving, staring was just going to make things more awkward.

  Yep, eyes on the road time.

  As Nadia directed me I did my level best not to stare and if I did acknowledge her directions, I thought, I at least tried to look at her face. Trust me, this is actually harder than you would think!

  Nadia directed us through only a few streets and into another carpark. Ahead of us was a children’s play area and around it was a park. A woodland was at its edge but otherwise it was a wide-open space. Not an ideal place for me as it was a little too open and lycans and vampires seem to be able to cover ground quickly. In a way, I felt like I could have done with Malcolm here but I couldn’t see him. Also, being the Sentinel of Essex and given the short time we had, it seemed I had few options. If I left the two parties to sort it then war most likely would break out and Grays could well suffer the fallout as would other places. Then, it gets reported and a storm brews up for everyone.

  “We’re here.” was all Nadia said and she opened the door just before we stopped. Just before she leapt out she said. “Follow me, my friends are waiting.” Then, she was gone.

  I got out of the Beast leaving her unlocked just in case I needed to beat a hasty retreat. As I scrambled to get out of the car I tapped my staff in its wrist support, felt the ring on my finger and the rope design chain around my neck. I was about as ready as I was likely to be. Also, I had the silver dagger on me as well just for good measure…this royally sucked. I knew it and I knew this was a bad thing to be walking into. Still, I had to suck it up, I’m the Sentinel of these parts. Then, I groaned aloud.

  I followed a wolf type dog which I assumed to be Nadia. She was padding along ahead of me and I followed her. She was dark as were most things in the night but she didn’t go too far and I walked quickly to keep pace with her.

  We cut across the grass and away from the children’s play area. With trees around us I watched as two more bigger wolf types came out of the bushes and past a children’s swing. These were big but not the biggest I had seen. I mean these weren’t Great Danes or anything, but they were like big German Shepherds I guessed.

  So, to any members of the public about I looked like someone with a few well behaved big dogs off their leads. Clever stuff, when you think about it.

  It wasn’t long before the wolves turned around, their senses far keener than mine.

  I turned to see what had caught their attention as a man came into view walking along the path which I had previously walked along. He was good-looking with short dark hair, a normal complexion as far as I could tell with a bit of stubble. He was slim built and in a grey business suit, carrying a black, smart looking briefcase. Although he was still some distance off he nodded his head and spoke with a clear voice that was easy to hear. “You Eddie?”

  I never much liked answering this question as at some point someone will just unload on me when I do. “I am, I’m here to help facilitate a meeting. Who are you and will you come join us?”

  The man walked casually towards me, his white shirt visible above his waistcoat in contrast to a thick black tie. His shoes were making a tapping on the ground just as any normal person would when out walking. The smartly dressed man certainly looked the part, he had that squash playing, London exec look to him.

  “I’m Andrew Moss and I’m here with your friends.” he stated with a casual nod to my new-found dogs. “I’m here at the request of Leo and my fellow Red Claws. I saw you earlier this evening as well." he said in a confident and friendly manner.

  Well, at least he was honest about being one of the pack. It would also explain why I didn’t see his eyes drop to view the pack. A vampire would have been as on edge here as I was. “Nice to meet you Andrew, I don’t know which one of the pack you were in the ruckus but it’s good to meet you.”

  “I was the first of us watching you. I was in my natural form, that of the werewolf as you would call it.”

  “Ah.” was all I could think of saying before he continued. I noticed the wolves move, subtle at first but it looked as if they were rounding on me as I spoke to Andrew. I was beginning to see a trap here and realised how vulnerable I was.

  Instead of attacking though, all three of them fell into place beside Andrew at his side as he stood in front of me.

  Andrew noticed my alarm and raised up a hand. “Eddie, it’s no trap. I am one of the pack nobles. I am one of two betas in our pack, it is myself and Deek whom you are also acquainted with. With us are Nadia who you know and Tom.” A big dog with patches of fur missing on his flank, possibly from some injury in the past. He was a grey looking beast who looked old and perhaps less physically able than the others. “Then there is Raff.” he said pointing at a large black wolf, one which looked simply vicious. Heavier set in the legs and chest, this dog was the fighter among them, his skull was simply huge as was his whole demeanour. Not a plodding type like a normal dog, this one looked like some over muscled mastiff. Raff was tall, fast and lethal but worst of all were his flat, pinned back ears and too much of the whites of his eyes showing. He looked ready to strike at anyone or anything all the time. This one I didn’t like.

  “Thanks for the introduction to the rest of your group, er I mean pack. I’m here on behalf of the Order to try to help in whatever way I can. Clearly something severe has taken place as Malcolm has informed me. I want to help resolve this peacefully. Nobody needs bloodshed, despite what your Alpha may desire.” Raff let out a low growl, barely audible to me and he looked almost apologetic, well as sorry as a canine can when he realised I could hear him. I gave him the raised eyebrow look. “Raff, I don’t know you, you don’t know me but you’re in Essex now. I need to make sure you leave here as easily as you got here. Also, I have to be sure any vampires who show up also leave unaccosted.”

  The dog looked blankly at me.

  I turned to Andrew “Andrew, I don’t rightly understand your customs as
Malcolm does. Still, if you are a second in charge of your pack then, if you can help me achieve this, I’ll be grateful?”

  He nodded solemnly and was about to talk when someone else appeared from the same path he came from.

  A male walked forward and this person was clearly a vampire, or at least I thought he was. He had all the traditional hallmarks. Grey or dark blue shirt over long back coat and dark grey trousers, his pale skin made to look harsh against his dark swept back hair. This man was hard to age, as any vampire is but he looked to me to be a young twenties to very early to mid-thirties if he were mortal.

  Yep, this one had the signs of trouble and he wasn’t alone. Low growls flashed up from the wolves at Andrew’s sides.

  This newcomer wasn’t alone. With them was someone dragged from behind him into view. The new person moved with a clumsy stumble, visibly unsteady on his feet.

  With him was bloody Samuel Kovach-Kingsley.

  The skinny Samuel was in his jeans and a black jumper with some white markings around the shoulder of a dark leather jacket. Despite Sam being in his late thirties he looked young for it but he still sported his gothic look despite his hair being shorter than when I first met him. Sam was being dragged along, literally dragged as he was barely able to stand. His face was heavily bruised, visible through his modest stubble. Sam looked a mess.

  The person, I assumed to be a vampire was pulling Sam upwards and along, jerking hard and as Samuel’s balance gave way, with super human strength he held the ten or eleven stone Samuel up in the air.

  The lycans stiffened at the arrival of this vampire, you could see fur rise up around the shoulder area on all of them. This vampire was alone by the looks of him. Confident but alone, with Samuel as his offering.

  “Greetings.” he said bowing slightly but still holding up Samuel with comparable ease. I could see now the true horror of Sam’s swollen face. Fat broken lips and a swollen eye hid behind his jet-black fringe.

  “I’m Eddie Holt, Sentinel of Essex and Suffolk. It seems you’ve got someone for us?” I said firmly looking at Samuel, resisting hard the urge to roast the vampire where he stood.

  The vampire then lowered Samuel to the wet ground, he barely moved, just gasped for air. He then spoke to Andrew and the wolves more than me. “I am Carval and this is Samuel, he is the person you’re looking for. This man is a powerful wielder of the arcane and he had a silver sword which he used on your kind last night.”

  “Did he?” I interjected trying real hard to not sound sarcastic. I remembered I had to keep neutral in this as well. Unless that was their plan all along…I wondered.

  The vampire nodded as he stood over the weakened Samuel who just laid there, foetal and barely able to even groan as he was presented as a prized slab of meat before a pack of wolves.

  Time to get Sam out of the frame here. “You see Carval, I know the man you have before us and I know he is no threat to anyone here.”

  The vampire’s eyes squinted as he looked at me and then quickly to Andrew. I saw a flash of alarm on his face. Apparently, he didn’t know that I already knew Samuel.

  “Really, Eddie.” he said slyly. “Then perhaps you don’t know him as well as you think. This man smells of magic, he reeks of it. It’s dripping off him, can’t you smell it? I know the noble lycans here can.” he delivered with all the slime you would expect from a crook.

  “I’m sure they can as you’ve clearly set Samuel Kovach-Kingsley up to take the fall for this incident. What have you done to him. Kicked the crap out of him so he will just sit here and take the fall for whoever really did it gross act?”

  Carval feigned shock at my accusation, it was a badly acted to be honest. That, or he was taking the piss out of me, I wasn’t sure which it was. “No, you have me wrong Mr Holt. I’m here to bring this villain to the pack.” he said gesticulating to me with an open, almost pleading hand.

  Then Andrew spoke. “Continue.” was all he said with a matching open-handed gesture.

  Carval did as asked. “I am nothing more than the delivery boy. All I know is some of your kind were outside of your lands. As a regrettable consequence of that one or more suffered for it. The man who took the life of the lycan you have sadly lost is this man.” he said with a gentle tap of his shoe against Samuel, still sitting limply on the floor.

  I turned to Andrew. “Samuel knows practically nothing of the arcane, he is a novice practitioner at best. In truth and in my EXPERT opinion he isn’t even that.”

  “Then how did he manage to slay a lycan?” sniped Carval.

  “It remains to be proven that he DID anything yet Carval.” I snarled back at him.

  “Human, I would hold your tongue before I rip it out of your mouth.” snapped the vampire in annoyance as he kicked Samuel harder now. The blow was hard enough that Samuel rolled over in pain but he wasn’t himself. It was as though he was drugged or most likely drained.

  The lycans growled and from out of nowhere a jet black, short haired German Sheppard looking dog appeared and bumped into Carval. How it got there I didn’t know as it was as though it just appeared, made whole out of the darkness. It wasn’t an aggressive knock, it was a bump, like when a school bully lets you know they are there in the corridors. Enough just to remind you of your place in the lunch queue.

  Carval shit himself and spun away from the canine. So much so that he landed about five feet away from the wolf and he glared at it. The wolf though, it sat down where it was, reminding me of a police dog. A police dog waiting for him to run.

  “Be warned all of you, I am here under the protection of my kind and we are still in Essex. I am a serving member of house Coyne so harm me at your peril.”

  “I know of house Coyne and their reach is minimal, as is yours. The Red Claw pack are your concern here not me. So, on with it…Why are you laying the blame at someone who wouldn’t even qualify as an apprentice to someone like me. Someone who can’t possibly slay a lycan.”

  Carval smiled, a cruel smile. The smile you have when a gambler is about to deliver his winning hand. “Silver is the great leveller.” he delivered, “I would have expected you to know this wizard. Also, the human is a practitioner of some alteration magic, potions and the like. He gained the power to kill the lycan and the sword he wielded did the rest.”

  “Really?” I said, bored with this performance.

  “Yes” snarled Carval, pointing at me. “Remember Eddie Holt, you are only passing through Essex and soon you will be back in your own borders, the lycans in theirs as well. They came into our domain, they killed and then sought to sneak off into the night but it didn’t go according to plan. This happens, risks happen.”

  The wolves growled except the one watching him, just sitting and waiting with such focus.

  The vampire wasn’t finished with is oratory. “Remember Carval of house Coyne. These people knew the boy who was killed. I will bet they raised him, they saw him play and now you bring us the evidence of the killer in the form of Samuel, come on.” I said with annoyance.

  The vampire was still, he was a little rattled but he was hiding it well. His only give away was just an occasional flicker of eyes to the black canine watching him. The dark dog, still, as motionless as a statue.

  Andrew then calmly added his voice to proceedings. “What evidence do you have that this Samuel killed Merran Karl?”

  The vampire bowed and continued. “I have Samuel, he has confessed to us and will or would confess to you.”

  “Would?” enquired Andrew.

  “He is unable to talk, it took some considerable effort to subdue him and as a result we needed to damage an arm and to break his jaw. My men had to attack quickly to ensure he could not hex upon us or worse. The magically gifted as you know are a threat to lycan and vampire alike.”

  I laughed at this point, actually I couldn’t help it and it wasn’t professional but come on.

  Andrew’s curt cough reminded me to compose myself and Carval didn’t look impressed either.

/>   “Tell me how he was apprehended?” I asked.

  “He was taken without his sword but taken quickly by one of my men who is here but a distance away. Two of my men are here as a safeguard which I’m sure you understand?”

  “If you feel you need security on your home territory then you are wise to bring some.” said Andrew which I would have taken as an insult despite his smooth unassuming delivery.

  Carval nodded in sickening but humble agreeance. “The power of Leo is well known across the country and beyond.”

  Bloody snake I thought. Time to call this guy and see what his hand was as it was time to up the pressure on him. I’d seen what he had and I wasn’t impressed. “So Carval, your story, and I want to be clear, consists of you and your house apprehending this powerful wizard.” I pointed to the feeble form of Sam, still on the floor. Then, I gritted down my anger and continued. “He had a silver sword, which you can’t produce. Your guys bust up this weak man so he can’t talk, let alone move. That’s assuming he isn’t under your thrall and you expect the Red Claw pack to believe this man is a killer. Come on, I, we all know bullshit when we see it and this story reeks of it.”

  Carval’s face contorted as though he had been slapped. “I’ve warned you before human.” said the vampire. Then, in an instant he stepped forward and was just inches away from my face.

  I didn’t have time to react.

  The growls rose up from the wolves around me as Carval paused. He just stood there indicating he could have got to me.

  “Carval, do you have the sword?” asked Andrew flatly.

  “No, I don’t. We think he disposed of it after his crime.”

  I would have rolled my eyes, but I had to keep my cool.

  “So how do you know he actually did this?”

  “An agent reported it to us. Also, what did the surviving lycan say?” asked Carval.

  This I was interested to know.

  Andrew spoke. “The surviving lycan said he was attacked by a vampire he thought. He couldn’t see it easily but it swung a sword at him.”

  “Did it now?” I growled at the ridiculousness of this. “Samuel couldn’t swing a golf club let alone be quick or skilled enough to take on a lycan or a vampire. He doesn’t know any Biomancy and whilst maybe he could forge a potion maybe, the lycans, unless I am wrong, should be searching for something supernatural. A vampire specifically as Samuel isn’t on the scale to do this. He just isn’t.”