by Mac Flynn
"You're pulling our tails," Marge spoke up.
"Is that what you think? Or are you maybe just a little tempted to see if I'm right?" Carey teased.
"How was this done?" Erik demanded to know.
Carey laughed and shook her head. "Maybe I'll tell you later, though you don't have much of a later left. My Blacky told me to fetch you and take you to him. He has a few proposals to put before you."
Erik stepped in front of me and shook his head. "I told him once I would never join him."
Carey's eyes fell on me. "Not even if he could free you from your mate?" I noticed Erik stiffened, and Carey grinned. "I thought that'd get your attention. That's why I suggested it to Blacky. He remembered you didn't want to play with us, but he thought maybe my little proposal might change your mind. Interested?"
Erik's eyes flitted between Carey and me. Everyone waited with baited breath. His shoulders sagged and he gave a nod.
"I will go with you," he agreed.
"Master!" Greg scolded him.
"You idiot! That's just what they want!" Marge shouted.
I grabbed his arm, and he turned to me. My eyes searched his, but I couldn't read the expression in his bright orbs. "Are you sure about this?" I whispered.
"Isn't this what you always wished?" he pointed out.
I glanced past him at Carey as she stood triumphant near the door. I frowned. "Not if it means she wins."
Carey grinned and turned to Erik. "We could just take care of her here if you want." She stepped back and petted the furry back of one of her escorts. "These guys have been dying to sink their teeth into some flesh, and they don't mind a little cannibalism on the side." The werewolf growled at me and saliva dripped from his mouth.
I heard a small intake of air and looked to Greg. His eyes were wide and filled with horror. "You have given them the flesh of another werewolf," he whispered.
Carey clapped her hands. "Greg, isn't it? Blacky told me you weren't dumb."
I felt the color drain from my face. "They. . .they ate somebody?"
"That's the usual definition of cannibalism," she concurred.
Erik started back and his eyes widened. Marge's mouth dropped to her feet. "Good god!" she whispered.
"God has nothing to do with this, but this is getting a little old," Carey commented. She half-turned to the door. "Let's go. All of you."
CHAPTER 6
"All of us?" Hazel spoke up.
"All of you," Carey repeated.
The witch's eyes narrowed. She stepped back against the far wall beside the mantel and waved her hands at us. "If all you want is them then get out of my home and let me be! You've caused enough damage!" She gestured to the dirty floor. "You're dirtying these fine floors."
Carey sneered at the plain-clothed creature with her wart. "You're coming with us. Blacky says you can't be trusted to be on your own, and finding everyone here shows how right he was."
Hazel's eyebrows crashed down and she stretched to her full, short height. "Can't be trusted? Who's he to say I can't be trusted?"
"He's the werewolf in charge, that's who, and he wants you to come with us so you're coming with us," Carey insisted. She snapped her fingers and a pair of the werewolves lumbered forward.
Hazel snatched a clay bottle off the mantel and threw it at them. The bottle shattered at their feet and a thick fog rose from the remains. The fog covered the faint glow from the candles and the fireplace, and shrouded the room in complete darkness.
A battle ensued, and it was fierce. I couldn't see anything but I could hear chairs breaking and bodies crashing into the thin walls. In a moment the fight was done. Someone huffed and puffed, and the fog blew away. I saw that our team had lost. Erik was locked in a stranglehold by one of the cannibalistic fiends and Greg was on the floor pinned beneath two of their massive bodies. Marge's limp body was slung over the shoulder of one of the werewolves. Hazel herself had disappeared from the fireplace and I couldn't see where she'd disappeared to. Methuselah was still AWOL.
"Where the hell did she go?" Carey shrieked. One of the werewolves beside her shrugged. She rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at the door. "Well, go find her!" she yelled. The werewolf turned tail and ran out of the cabin with two of his friends in tow. Carey marched over to Erik and shoved her face into his. Her eyes blazed with a golden-hued fury. "What the hell was that about? I thought you were going to come nice and peaceful."
Erik grinned at her. "It is no dishonor to deceive an evil foe."
She snorted. "Because everybody who's against you is the bad guy, right?" she sneered. Carey backed up so she stood smugly beside the fireplace with her arms folded over her chest. "Well, you picked a stupid time to turn against me. I know Sophie doesn't know what these boys are capable of, but you three should know better," she scolded them.
"What do you mean?" I asked her
She laughed at my ignorance. "It means that because they ate a couple of other werewolves they gained their strength."
I cringed. "Cannibalism with benefits."
"Exactly, but it does make them a little stupid, though," Carey commented as she patted one of their shoulders.
"And they willingly did this?" Erik asked her question her
She laughed and shook her head. No, but Blacky treated them to a good feast just a couple nights ago and they came out changed men, or rather, werewolves. Now if you boys and-" her eyes darted over to Marge, "-I guess girl are done playing then we should get going. We can't keep Blacky waiting."
"You're still going to take us?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "Why not? Besides, I did promise Blacky I was going to bring you guys in whether or not you agreed, and we might have other ways of persuading you to join us. Now let's move out."
We were marched single file out the door with Hazel as more company. I was pushed ahead of Erik and Greg. Marge was still unconscious across the shoulder of one of the brutes. The werewolves led us off the porch and down another path that led to the right of the building towards the lake.
The foggy night was dark as we were marched into into the thick trees. The shadows lengthened and fell over us like shrouds of defeat. I chanced a look over my shoulder and saw that Erik and Greg's faces were turned to the ground. The wolf that was my keeper pushed me on and growled. I got the hint. He didn't want me looking back there.
It felt like we marched for hours but maybe that was because I kept tripping over all the stupid roots. It wasn't that I was wasn't watching for them, but rather that I was watching out for where Methuselah and that damn witch had gone. After a few minutes the werewolves that Carey had ordered to find Hazel rejoined us.
"Well?" Carey asked him. He shook his head and she growled. "Damn it. . ." I heard her mutter. She looked to the other werewolves and jerked her head forward. "Let's go. We can't worry about some stupid witch, and she's done what she needed to do."
We continued on our way. A couple of miles further on I smelled the scent of lake water. My senses weren't fooling me. A few minutes later I heard the sound of lapping water, and the trees parted to reveal the lake. The soft waters of Wolf Lake greeted us, and I saw that there were two large motorboats ready to take us to Blackwood.
A pair of long planks led to the decks of the small boats. They led us to one of them and I had placed a foot on the plank when a noise behind me caught everyone's attention. I turned around and saw that Marge had awoken and was struggling in the grips of her captor.
"Let me down!" she screamed. "Let me down, or so help me I'll open your throat!"
The werewolf who held her had a hard time holding her. Marge clawed and bit at his back. He tried to pull her forward but she dug her claws into his flesh.
"Get a hold of her!" Carey yelled at her minion.
The brute werewolf growled and tried to do as she ordered, but Marge had other plans. I suspected our bar-owning waitress was used to being unwillingly slung over the shoulders of big ugly werewolves. She slipped her legs out of his grip and slid
the rest of her body over his shoulder and to the ground behind him, but not before she gave the back of his head a good kick with both of her feet. The werewolf's eyes grew big and wide, and he stumbled forward.
"Kill her, you idiots!" Carey snapped.
Before any of the other werewolves could react to Carey's command a dark shadow flew out of the treetops behind us. It swooped down and covered the rear most werewolf in a depth-less shadow. I couldn't see hide nor hair of the mutant werewolf, but I could hear him. His terrible screams and howls came from where he stood, but the darkness blotted out all the R-rated carnage. In a moment the shadow slipped off his body and revealed a sunken, drained corpse of his former self. The werewolf's eyes were wide and sunken, and when the shadow released him he fell face forward onto the dirt. A little cloud of dust flew up and our group was deathly silent, but our shock didn't cause the shadowed to pause. It jumped to the next nearest werewolf and swallowed it in its body. Even these brutes had some survival instincts left in them. They broke ranks and stampeded towards the boats and the plank I on which I stood.
Erik shoved his shoulder into his werewolf guard and knocked the distracted beast away from him. My mate lunged at me and push us both into the waters. The stampeding, ballistic werewolves trampled the spot where I had just stood as they tried to save themselves from the insatiable shadow that ravaged their rear ranks.
"Stand your ground!" Carey shouted at her beasts, but they ignored her. Some even pushed her aside, and unfortunately that kept them from trampling her.
The carnage lasted less than a minute. The boats were manned by normal werewolves, and when they saw the chaos erupt on the shore they put the engines in reverse. Some of the more sentient of the feral werewolves jumped into the water and clung to the sides of the boats. In a moment the boats disappeared from sight leaving only an echo of their engines to tell us they'd been there leaving only the planks and the echo.
The remaining werewolf guards were quickly dispensed with. As the last one fell to the ground the dark shadow landed on the dirt close beside his final victim. The darkness raised itself onto two legs and my beating heart slowed as I realized our savior was none other than Methuselah. He turned his dark eyes to where Erik and I sat in the ankle deep mud of the lake water.
"You are indebted to me greatly, son of Cassandra," Methuselah told Erik.
"I never thought I'd be glad to see a vampire," Marge quipped as she stood to her feet.
I heard a shallow groan and turned my gaze on the puddle of our enemy. Carey raised herself to a sitting position and looked around in bewilderment. Gone was her majestic and terrifying guard, and in its place was the corpse of half a dozen of the werewolves.
Erik helped me to my feet and turned his attention to Methuselah. "Why did you help us?" he asked the vampire.
"Because you needed the assistance, and you would hardly be entertaining to me in a captured state," Methuselah pointed out.
Marge snorted and brushed the dirt and mud off her clothes. "And you couldn't have done it sooner?" she questioned him.
Methuselah's eyes flitted to her and looked her over with disdain. "I performed the deed when I chose," he told her.
She rolled her eyes. "Just like a vampire. . ." she muttered.
Erik released me and marched over to Carey. Greg was the closest to her, and he grasped her arms and lifted her off the ground. She thrashed and struggled in his hold.
"Let me go! Let me go right now!" she demanded.
"As you wish," Greg agreed. He opened his hands and arms. She dropped back onto the soft, muddy shoreline with a satisfying splat.
Erik stood over her and the rest of us joined him to create a circle around her. Carey looked up and cringed.
Erik knelt in front of her and looked her in the eyes with a firm, steady gaze. "You will tell us all you know."
CHAPTER 7
Carey turned her face away from his gaze. "I have nothing to say to you."
"You were willing to talk to us when you had the upper hand," Marge piped up. Carey scowled at her, but said nothing.
"What do you know about Blackwood's plans for the lake?" Erik persisted. Carey pressed her lips together. "How does Blackwood plan to control the islands when he foments so much discord?"
She tossed her long black hair at him. "I'm not telling you anything," she refused.
Erik whipped out his hand and grabbed her collar. He stood and lifted her off the ground, and shoved his face into hers. His teeth were bared and his eyes had a golden hue to them. "If you value your life you will tell us," he warned her.
She turned her face away and grasped his hand. Her eyes were large and her hands shook atop his. "I–I don't know the full details. Blacky wouldn't tell me everything," she admitted.
"Then what do you know?" Marge spoke up.
"Put me down and I'll tell you!" Carey demanded.
Erik's eyes narrowed, but he set her feet back on the ground. She rubbed her neck and glared at him.
"I overheard him saying he wanted to make everybody mad at the family in charge of everything and then he'd take over. Kind of like a savior or something," she admitted.
I snorted. "He'd be that conceited."
Carey glared at me. "He's a great man. He's got a lot of ideas for this place after this stupid fog is closer to the cities."
"How close?" Erik questioned her.
"Real close, like a couple of miles," Carey answered. "That way there's plenty of room for everybody and they can get more girls for the people who work for him." She grinned. "He takes care of his own."
"Yeah, he's taken real good care of you," I quipped.
She shot a glare at me. "You're just jealous because you can't stop him."
"Maybe the fleet's already stopped him," Marge challenged her.
Carey sneered at Marge. "You honestly think a bunch of sailing ships would be a match for engines? Those things were taken care of before I got here."
Marge's eyes widened. She jumped forward and grabbed Carey's shoulders. "Taken care of how?" Carey cringed and Marge shook her. "How?"
"T-they were boarded and captured. I think they're still on the ships, but I don't know," Carey told her.
Marge tossed Carey aside and Greg caught her. She turned to us. "We have to go right now."
Erik shook his head. "We can't attack them without a plan. We are outnumbered and, at this time, outmaneuvered." He turned his attention to Carey. "I would also like to know what's changed his mind about me. He tried to kill me the last time I faced him. Why is he so eager to have me once more?" Erik questioned her
Carey pulled out of Greg's hold and shook her head. "I don't know. It has something to do with your aunt or mother or someone."
Erik's eyes widened. "My mother? What about my mother?"
Carey shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know. Blacky wouldn't tell me."
"Why should we believe you?" Marge spoke up. "Why should we believe anything you're telling us? Maybe it's all just a lie and your side is losing."
Carey laughed. "If you think it's a lie then why don't you go to the Den and see?" Marge snarled, but didn't move. Carey grinned. "See? You do believe me. That means you know you guys aren't going to win so you might as well give up."
Marge growled and jumped at Carey. Carey's eyes widened and she backed up into Greg. He grabbed her and pulled Carey out of Marge's reach as our furious friend tried to grab her.
"A moment of calm," Greg advised.
Marge's eyes narrowed and she shook her fist at Carey and Greg. "Calm? Calm is a waste of time when your mate's life is in danger. I won't give up until my mate dies, and if I find that Blackwood's killed him then you'll be the first to join him on the other side," Marge warned Carey.
"But he is well. You would know otherwise," Erik spoke up.
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "She would?"
Marge frowned, but her shoulders slumped and she turned her back on Carey and Greg to look to Erik. "He st
ill lives, but every second we stay here gets him closer to being killed."
"We can't move forward to rescue Captain Black until we find our answers," Erik insisted. "Otherwise we may be running into a trap."
"I don't know anything about you and your family," Carey insisted. She shot a glare at Marge. "And I'm not lying."
"We can believe she tells the truth," Greg agreed. "And I may have the answer you seek, my Master."
Erik turned and scowled at his servant. "What do you know of it?"
Greg shut his eyes and bowed his head. "Your mother is not who she appears. She is, or rather, was the most powerful witch our clan has ever known."
Erik started back, and the rest of us blinked. "I hate to be the first one to say this, but huh?" I spoke up.
"It is true, but perhaps this tale is better for another place," Greg suggested.
Erik marched up to Greg and pushed Carey aside so they stood chest to chest. "You tell me the mother I have always known is not who she appears and then have me wait?"
"Yes," was Greg's curt reply.
"What better time could there be than now?" Erik growled at Greg.
"This location isn't safe," Methuselah pointed out. "The ships may return and a necessary participant in this conversation is missing."
Everyone turned to the enigmatic vampire. "Who's missing?" I asked him.
"The witch," he revealed.
All our eyes widened.
"You know where she is located?" Greg spoke up.
The vampire gave a curt nod. "I do."
Greg placed a hand on Erik's shoulder. "Your curiosity is great, and for good reason, but wise council is only wise for a moment."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Marge questioned him.
"It means it will be too late to head it if we don't leave this before the ships return," Erik explained. He pursed his lips and turned to Greg. "Very well, but I will not wait for long."
"I'm not going anywhere with you guys," Carey refused as she folded her arms over her chest.
Marge rolled up her sleeves and marched over to Carey. She picked up our foe with one arm and flung the surprised woman over her shoulder. Marge turned to us and grinned. "Let's see how she likes this position," she commented.
