by Tim O'Rourke
Together, the four of us raced after the helicopter. Reaching its tail, we split, Murphy and Meren one side, me and Gayle the other. Reaching out with our claws, we took hold. Like black-winged locusts, we scurried over the helicopter and towards the cockpit. The pilot lurched the machine violently left then right trying to shake us free. My stomach flipped over. Murphy went to work on the other side of the helicopter, removing large pieces of the machine with his claws. The engine made a whining sound as I reached the cockpit. With one quick swipe of my arm, I reached inside, yanking the co-pilot from his seat. I threw him screaming into the air. Gayle plucked him out of the sky with her claws. She shook him all over as she tore the Skin-walker in two. Both parts of him span away towards the ground, entrails fluttering like kite tails.
Then out the corner of my eye, I saw the cockpit window blow inwards. I snapped my head to the side to see Meren shove her face through the opening she had made with her claw. Snapping wildly with her fangs, she lunged at the pilot’s throat. With blood spraying from her mouth, she threw her head backwards, ripping the pilot’s windpipe free. She spat it out and wiped her lips with the back of one claw.
“Done?” I asked her.
“Done,” she grinned.
“Let’s get out of here then,” I smiled back at her.
We fluttered away as the helicopter spiralled out of control towards the uneven and rocky ground below.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Potter
Luke had been gone just moments before several of the Skin-walker cops entered the room. I stood up, but one of them forced me back into my seat with a rough pair of hands. Surprisingly, Seth took a seat beside me. I glanced right at Jack. He sat staring ahead with his bright eyes, and his expression was unreadable – blank.
I looked back at the cops. There were four of them. Snapping her head forward, Lola barked at them as if prompting them to speak.
One of the cops was holding a clipboard. He stepped forward, and looking at me, he said, “You have been found guilty of murder.”
“Murder?” I laughed. “I haven’t murdered anyone. I haven’t even had a trial.”
From the clipboard, the cop took what looked like a piece of paper and placed it on the table before me. I glanced down at it. It was a photograph of me holding the dead wolf boy in the barn.
“It is forbidden for a human to take the life of a wolf,” he said.
“I ain’t no human,” I smiled, glancing at Seth. I had him to thank for setting me up so that photograph could be taken.
“You are also convicted for being a traitor...” the cop continued.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before,” I said, trying to sound my most cocky and arrogant, but deep in my heart, I didn’t have a clue as to how I was going to get myself out of this mess.
I glanced at Seth again. He stared ahead, and for once, his eyes looked black and dead. The light had gone out of them. Quicker than I believed a Lycanthrope could move, Seth had got up, the flesh from his arms had gone and two meaty, fur-covered claws were raised before him.
The cops looked at one another, then realising they were in trouble, two of them ran at him. I watched as Seth sliced his claws through the air, tearing open the cops’ faces. Fur oozed from between the red openings as they threw their hands to their faces and howled. The remaining two cops leapt at Seth and I watched in amazement at what I saw unfolding around me. Seth opened them up so quickly that if I’d blinked, I would have missed all the fun. The skinwalking cops dropped to the floor where they kicked and thrashed, clutching the bleeding wounds Seth had opened in them. As they fought for their lives, the human skins they had stolen fell away, and I looked in disgust at their faces, which now lay bare. The cops’ heads were misshapen – elongated – and they each had a criss-cross of open wounds weaved about their skull. Their mouths were huge and gaping, made of long fleshy lips that flapped in and out like giant gills. Wispy lengths of wolf hair hung from them.
Even I turned away in disgust as one of the dying Skin-walkers turned on one of his own and began to devour him. The sound of slurping and breaking bones was disgusting, and if my hands weren’t secured behind me, I would have covered my ears.
The door to the room crashed open and a fresh batch of Skin-walkers burst in. Seth turned to face them, his claws held above his head. He snarled, his thin twisted lips recoiling to reveal his pointed teeth. Seth moved towards the cops with such speed, that he had cut through four of them before they’d a chance to fire guns, which they held in their hands. The others came at him, the sound of their breathing deep and rasping as they started to change shape. One of them managed to release off a volley of bullets, and the room flashed bright white. Seth fell to the floor. At first I believed he had been shot. Then spinning on his back like an upturned turtle, he swiped away at the legs of the cops and brought them crashing to the floor. No sooner had he knocked them over, he was up again, leaping through the air at the remaining cops.
I saw it coming but was powerless to act, as I was still manacled at the rear. Lola bounded into the air, colliding with Seth and slamming him into the wall. Seth looked at her, and not for one moment did he show any sense of feeling or pain – his face was expressionless. He then ripped open her throat with his teeth. Lola made a whimpering noise as she kicked out with her back legs and thrashed her tail from side to side. Eventually she fell still, dropping to the floor in a pile of white fur. I looked up at Seth and he looked back at me.
He rushed towards me. But instead of killing me, as I believed he would, Seth reached behind me, and broke my chains free. Jumping to my feet I looked in his eyes, which were now blazing again.
“Why have you saved me?” I asked, rubbing my wrists.
“I didn’t do it for you, I did it for my sister,” he said, his face wrinkled and hollow-looking. “I did it for Kiera.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I thought Bishop was going to kill you,” he said, his eyes still fixed on mine. “I had no idea he was going to use you as bait to trap my sister. I might be a sick fuck, but not so sick I’d let my own sister be taken to bed against her will by that freaking bat.”
“She got to you, didn’t she?” I said softly. “Kiera got under your skin.”
“She taught me I have a choice, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that since I left her in that room,” he explained. “For once I want to do the right thing – by Kiera, at least.”
“So what now?” I asked, still not entirely sure if I could trust him.
“We go to Kiera and stop her from coming to Wasp Water and entering Bishop’s trap,” Seth said, turning towards the door.
He stopped suddenly.
“What do we have here?” Luke said, standing in the open doorway. “Two traitors! Why, this just keeps getting better and better.”
A sea of Skin-walkers stood behind him. Our only way out was blocked.
Smiling, Luke stared back at us and said, “Looks like we’re gonna have ourselves two executions today.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kiera
With smoke and debris pouring up into the air from the downed helicopters, it was only a matter of time before the good townsfolk from Wasp Water came to investigate. It wouldn’t take Einstein to figure out what happened out here. We had to keep moving – get in and out of Wasp Water before we were discovered. But that would be easier said than done. It was a safe bet that if Potter were being held in Wasp Water, it would at the police station, in the cells where I had slept in a world not to dissimilar to this one. In that when, Wasp Water had been overridden by zombie-like vampires – it was now home to the wolves.
Murphy held his side as he staggered across the rugged moorland towards the town. He had one arm thrown around Meren’s shoulder in support. Peter carried his sister, Alice, in his arms. She was unconscious, the side of her head pressed flat against his chest. This was impossible. Our number had been cut in half. Our chances of beating the wolves had been sli
m at best, now they were something close to zero. Gayle glanced at me, her eyes haunted by what had just happened. Her strawberry blond hair flicked about her shoulders in the wind. Had I’d led the half and half’s to their deaths? I feared. Had I filled them with false hope? Had I been wrong to convince them that because we could fly, and wolves couldn’t, that we could easily defeat them? I had underestimated the cunning of this Wolf Man – but then there was nothing so cunning as a wolf.
Stopping dead in my tracks beneath a bruised and battered looking sky, I said, “I will go on alone.”
“Don’t be so stupid,” Murphy snapped. He was paler than ever, and despite the cold wind that gnawed at us, his brow was covered with beads of sweat. “You can’t go on alone.”
“And you can’t go on like that,” I said, pointing at his bleeding wound.
“It will heal itself, you know it will,” he said, doubled over in pain.
“Not for a few hours yet,” I warned him. “And we don’t have the time.” I remembered the nightmare I’d had about Jack, and something inside told me time was running out for him. Potter, too.
“I’ll go with you,” Meren suddenly said.
“No one is going anywhere,” Murphy growled. “We stay together.”
I looked at Meren.
“Kiera’s right,” Meren said, pulling her father tight. “We could go ahead, scope the place out. See how well defended the town is. We could then come back and plan our attack.”
It was as if Meren had read my mind – had seen my plan before I’d had the chance to suggest it. Perhaps we just thought alike?
I pointed ahead. “There is an outcrop of rock over there,” I said to Murphy. “You could rest there, unseen by anyone who might come out here to discover what happened to those helicopters. Peter and Gayle could stay with you and keep watch while you and Alice get a chance to heal. Neither of you are any good to us at the moment.”
Murphy raised his head and looked at me. “You just take a look and come straight back, right?”
“Right,” I said. “Me and Meren check the place out, find the safest way into the town, and then come back here for you guys.”
“You got two hours,” Murphy grumbled. “If you’re not back by then, gunshot or no gunshot, I’m coming after you.”
“Okay,” I breathed in relief that Murphy had agreed to the plan. I looked at Meren and she smiled back at me. She was pleased, too.
Slowly, we crossed the barren-looking moorlands towards the overhang. The landscape looked ancient, prehistoric perhaps? Large jagged lumps of granite rock pierced the ground like black headstones. The wind blew hard between the mountains and over the rolling hills. Our clothes fluttered about us as we pulled them tight. We stepped beneath the overhanging lip of rock. It was dry underneath and shielded from the howling wind. Working together, Meren and I rested Murphy against the far wall of the overhang. He winced and clutched his side. I could see that his fingers were black and crusted with dried blood.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Get the hell out of here before I change my mind,” he wheezed. “You’ve got two hours.”
“Okay,” I said.
Looking at Meren then back at me, Murphy added, “And bring my daughter back safe.”
“I can take care of myself,” Meren tried to reassure him.
“You don’t know the wolves like we do,” he grunted and closed his eyes.
Leaving Murphy to rest, I turned to face the others. Gayle was standing just beneath the lip and looking out across the moors, as if on guard. Alice was asleep on the ground, her head resting in Peter’s lap. Her wings, which were folded around her, were riddled with gunshot wounds.
“How she doing?” I whispered, not wanting to wake her.
“She doesn’t look too good,” Peter whispered back, his eyes wide and fearful.
“Just let her rest,” I told him. “We half and half’s have a knack for healing.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said, looking down at his sister and brushing a stray strand of hair from her feverish brow.
“We’ll be back soon,” I said.
Meren was standing with Gayle. Both turned to look at me as I approached them. “Ready?” I asked Meren.
She nodded.
Looking at Gayle, I said, “Keep a look out. You should be safe here and we won’t be long.”
“What should I do if any wolves come?” Gayle asked.
“Fight for your lives,” I said, heading out from beneath the overhang.
I didn’t mean to sound flippant or cruel, but I was being honest. I was trying to be real.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kiera
Using the giant rocks which were scattered across the plain to conceal ourselves, we made our way towards Wasp Water. Meren stayed close to me, crouching when I did, running when I ran, and hiding when I hid. To the east of the town, I remembered the road that I had walked once before with Kayla and Isidor after escaping the zoo. It led into town, but was sheltered on one side by trees. That would be the safest place to head for, in hopes we could get close to the town without being seen.
Cutting across the open plain at speed, I led Meren towards that road. Just like I had remembered it, a wooded area stretched alongside the road, offering us cover. Once amongst the thick trees, I led Meren towards the road. Coming to rest behind a large tree, I peeked around it. I could see the road about ten yards away. The last time I had walked that road, it had been blocked solid with cars. Each one of them had been filled with the dead, those that had been attacked by vampires. I pushed the memory of their bloated and maggot-infested faces from my mind.
Without warning, a police car sped past on the other side of the trees, its emergency lights screaming and flashing. This patrol car was followed by another and then another. They were heading out in the direction of the downed helicopters and to where our friends were hiding.
Meren looked at me. “What now?” she whispered, combing her blue hair behind her ears with her fingers.
“We wait here for those police cars to get well clear. We daren’t risk going out onto that road with so many cops about,” I whispered back. “The town is about a quarter of mile over there. The trees start to thin out just before town, but we can get close enough to take a look.”
“Okay,” Meren said, crouching down and resting her back against the tree trunk.
Two more police cars raced past, and I slid back behind the tree and out of sight.
As the sound of their sirens began to fade into the distance, Meren looked at me and said, “Who murdered me?”
“Huh?” I said, surprised by her question.
“Who murdered me back at Hallowed Manor, and why?” she asked again.
Settling back against the tree, I said, “A wolf called Sparky and a Vampyrus called Luke Bishop. Sparky was once a friend of mine, and Luke was a friend of your father’s.”
“So if they were friends, why did they kill me and the others?” she said, her bright eyes fixed on me as if searching for answers.
“Sparky was deceived by Luke,” I started to explain. “Luke deceived all of us. His real name was Elias Munn and he was wicked beyond belief. He thought you were half-breeds – Vampyrus born from the mixing of humans and Vampyrus. We all believed that – I thought I was one, too. He wanted to experiment on you, make an army of half-breeds because he thought they had special gifts – powers. He wanted to make an army of half-breeds so he could take over the world. Slowly he was infecting the human race. He and other Vampyruses were feeding off humans, which turns them into vampires. But these vampires were freakish, frenzied, and untameable – like zombies. He wanted an army he could control, so he started to experiment with the half-breeds. But when he discovered how very weak and sick you were, he knew you would’ve been of no use to him, so he murdered you in your beds. Instead, he kidnapped a healthy half-breed; he kidnapped my friend, Kayla.”
Meren sat quietly as if contemplating what I had just told
her. After a few short moments, she turned to face me again and said, “Why were we brought back then?”
I thought about this, and shaking my head, I said, “I don’t know. The only creatures that really know why are the Elders, and they speak in riddles. But I believe we are getting closer to the answer – closer to the truth.”
Again, Meren sat silently as if registering what I had told her. Then, shooting me a sideways glance she said, “Did you know my mother?”
I thought of everything Murphy had told me and how Pen had given her daughters up as babies. She had left them in a box, sick and weak in Murphy’s care. He had told Meren her mother had died. He hadn’t told either of his daughters about their real mother. Not wanting to lie to Meren, and knowing the truth should come from Murphy, I looked away and said, “I didn’t know your mother.”
Feeling a little uncomfortable about keeping the truth from Meren, I got up and brushed the damp leaves from the seat of my trousers. There was little snow on the ground beneath the trees, but there was enough to have made the ground damp.
“C’mon,” I said, looking down at Meren. “I think the last of those police cars has gone now. We should get closer to the town. We haven’t got long before your father comes looking for us.”
I set off, keeping back from the road. Meren followed, then caught up with me.
“I saw you in the summerhouse,” she suddenly said with a faint smile. “I saw you and that man, Potter.”
I felt my cheeks fill with blood, as I remembered looking up and finding a statue looking in at us as Potter and I had made love. “So that was you, was it?”
“I’m sorry,” Meren said with a cheeky grin. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t see much. The windows were so covered with rain, and it was dark inside.”
