by Ella Stone
Without the care he had previously used to carry out his foul work, he shoved the tube down Victor’s throat and forced the serum in. A howl burst from his lungs, violent and viscous. In a heartbeat it came to an abrupt, gurgling stop.
In the silence, we all waited. I took a step closer to the bars of my cage though, once again, Rhett shook his head. His eyes were constantly on me. He was the only person who was not looking at Victor. There was something different about the experiment this time though, I thought, as the minutes ticked by. I suddenly realised what it was. Victor was still standing. Joanna had collapsed, but Victor was still on his feet with his eyes open.
“What about the change? When will it happen?”
“It should be soon, Your Highness. It should happen very soon.”
From outside, came the hooting of an owl. Inside the dungeon, there was only silence. More time passed. I watched as Rhett’s Adam’s apple moved up and down with ever-increasing frequency. Something was about to happen. Just as it felt as if my heart was beating strongly enough to burst through my ribs, a shriek filled the dungeon.
“This is not good enough.” The Duchess’s voice shook the very metal of our cages. “This is not what you promised. You think I can get an invincible army like this?” She grabbed Victor’s neck. “This is not a soldier. This is not even sport for my dogs.” She dragged her long fingernail across his cheek leaving a red line in its wake. “What am I supposed to—”
She was cut short by a fierce and animalistic howl so brutal and so intense that the Duchess herself took a step back in shock, losing her grip on Victor as she did so. What followed was something that I was to recall every day for the rest of my life.
It was like a blurring of lines. A shifting in time. One minute, Victor stood as a man, ageing but strong, the growth of hair on his face caused only by his time in captivity. The next moment he was on the ground, crouching with his back arched, his limbs elongated. And hair that had previously only covered his face and head, was sprouting from every inch of his body. Within moments, a wolf, larger than I could ever have imagined, stood in front of us. Dropping onto its haunches, it lifted its muzzle to the ceiling and howled with such anguish, it caused my very bones to tremble.
“Yes! Yes!” The Duchess clapped her hands. “This is beautiful. Wonderful.” She reached down to pet the animal that had once been Victor. It snarled at her and snapped its jaws. “Quickly. Put the collar on him. The collar!”
Rhett brought the item and fastened it around Victor’s neck. The action was too fast for the wolf to stop it although the moment the binding was in place he struggled and howled. The Duchess took the chain and yanked him by the neck.
“Quiet,” she ordered. With a whimper, the wolf fell silent. “Now the woman. Do the woman now.” She could hardly contain her excitement, her eyes gleaming. “Collar her first this time. Make sure she cannot escape.”
This time, there was no delay. The physician forced the serum down Martha’s throat and, a moment later, the Duchess administered the scratch with her unnaturally long fingernail across poor Martha’s cheek. The effect was instant.
My heart pounded in my throat, as I watched the second transformation. The confusion and fear in Martha’s eyes, as her irises grew large and green. This time, the wolf did not snarl or snap as the Duchess knelt beside it and stroked its fur.
“They need food,” she said. “Get them back in their cages and fetch them meat. And we will need to have them constantly guarded at first, to make sure that their cages are strong enough to hold them.”
“I’ll do that,” Rhett offered immediately. “I can watch them.”
She looked round at him, her eyes hovering on him for just a moment.
“Good. Stay here. I’ll want to know of any changes. Any changes at all. You understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I understand.”
My stomach twisted and tightened. The way he bowed down to this vile creature sickened me to the core, almost as much as the sight of seeing these humans transformed into animals. Victor and Martha were being dragged by their chains to their cages. Saliva foamed at their mouths. A question flashed through my mind. I was not the only one who thought it.
“What if the cages aren’t strong enough to hold them?” Rhett asked the Duchess. “What then?”
“Then we will need less meat to feed them,” she replied, taking one last glance at her new pets. “Come, we should go. We must send people to the village. This is cause for a celebration.”
A moment later she took her leave, the physician and the rest of the vampires following her. The only one who remained was Rhett.
“You knew,” I spat at him. “You knew—”
“Quiet!” The tone of his voice stunned me to silence. Fury burned in my veins. Only when I looked up and saw the desperation in his eyes, did my anger fade just a fraction. Without a sound he pressed a finger to his lips, then pointed upstairs. I began to understand.
“They can hear us?” I mouthed. He nodded, his tongue running along his dry lips as we waited, head tilted to the ceiling. Over a minute passed. The wolves’ pacing was the only sound to be heard. Finally, he dropped his head and looked squarely at me.
“They can hear us?” I repeated, this time at a slightly higher volume. “They can hear everything?”
He shook his head. “Only when they are in this part of the castle. When they are in the other wings they cannot.” Realising that eavesdropping vampires was low on my list of worries, my anger returned.
“You knew this was what they were going to do! You knew and you didn’t tell me!”
“I barely know you.”
It was true. Two short conversations, and yet it felt like so much had passed between us in that time.
“You saved me,” I said, remembering what had just happened. That could just as easily have been me as a wolf now. It should have been me. But at least I wasn’t going insane. At least I knew my feelings—whatever they were—were being reciprocated, to some degree at least. I stuttered the words that should have been the first to leave my lips. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” he replied, his eyes darker than any I had ever seen. “They’ll come again. They’ll come to change all of you. And there will be nothing I can do. No matter how much I might want to.” His eyes held mine and the first hint of warmth crept through me. A second later and he was gone.
4
RHETT
What was she doing in my head? It didn’t make sense. I had been at the castle for weeks, watching them try and fail with all these humans. I had dragged countless bodies to the woods and left them there for the wild wolves to feed on. But I had been numb to it all. Numb to everything since I’d arrived. Now, even the taste of fresh blood on my lips couldn’t erase the way I felt when she looked at me. Both the betrayal and the thanks there.
That night, the party was in full swing.
For the third time in a row, the serum had worked. And each time we had celebrated. The Duchess had sent off wagons to the nearest village—a three-hour trip, if the horses were at full pace. Wine flowed freely. Some poured it down the throats of their victims—they liked the way they tasted, drunk. But all the wine in the world couldn’t fix whatever was going on in my head. I had managed to keep her safe from the procedures, so far, picking others myself or making sure attention was diverted to different prisoners. Yet I was only going to be able to keep this up for so long. Particularly with the way certain eyes were on me.
“Why aren’t you drinking?” Dimitar appeared at the table beside me. “You have been handed a choice specimen and barely taken a bite. It is not looked kindly upon to be so dismissive of the Duchess’s generosity.”
“I prefer to savour what I have been given,” I replied. “Apparently, I was taught better table manners than others.” I nodded towards the other side of the hall, where a group of vampires had stripped half a dozen humans naked and were taking turns feeding from as many parts of their bodies as poss
ible. Even Dimitar’s expression flickered with a hint of disgust, although that was an almost permanent look for him. Head henchman to the Duchess, none took more pleasure in what we were than he. Perhaps it came with time, I pondered. Perhaps, as the years pass, I would become immune to the monster that I saw in myself. The monster that the girl believed was redeemable.
We had spoken only once more since that first time I had saved her. The conversation took place the day after the first transformations.
“Please,” she had begged, as the two wolves padded their cages. “There must be a way you can stop this. Help the physician to escape.”
“I cannot get close to him.” I told her the truth. “He is guarded day and night. He is not allowed to leave his cell.”
“But this…” Her gaze moved to the wolves. “This is worse than death.”
“Many things are worse than death,” I reminded her. Silence fell between us and I found myself desperate to reach out and touch her. To feel her warmth. To know if I could even feel warmth again. It had been so long, I didn’t know any more. “Keep quiet when they come. Don’t draw attention to yourself.” That was the only piece of advice I could give.
A stifled whimper shifted my attention away from thoughts of Eve and back to the party and the woman who was meant to be my meal. Her pale hair was already stained with her own blood. Her eyes were red rimmed. Her skin blotchy, reeking from the sweat that streamed from her.
Standing up, I gestured for Dimitar to take my place.
“Just make sure you leave me some,” I said, as I stepped back.
“Where are you going?”
“I prefer a quieter dining experience. I will be back.”
5
EVE
“Victor? Victor, is that you?” Shivering from the cold, I strained to see through the darkness. “Can you hear me?” Rustles and groans reached my ears. The gentle dog-like snoring of sleeping wolves filled the air. Blinking, I stared into his cage. He was there, still in wolf form and yet I could have sworn I had heard his voice, so clear it was as if he was back and speaking directly to me. Pulling my blanket around my shoulders, I shook away the feeling and lay back down. It was no wonder that I was hearing things. Weeks had passed and I was still hearing my parents’ voices in my head. Victor was just another loss to add to them.
My eyes had only just closed again when a voice called out, definitely real this time.
“Get up. I need you to get up.”
“What?”
“It’s me. Rhett. Get up now!”
“Rhett?” That was when I learned his name
“Shh. We need to be fast. We need to move quickly.”
He was standing in front of my cage door, hunched over, fumbling with something in his hand. A key ring.
“What are you doing?”
“We have to go now. The others are on the far side of the castle. They’re feasting. If we go now, they won’t hear us. We’ll get a head’s start. We’ll need to move fast. The Duchess is going to change the rest of you. She wants an army ready for the next full moon.” His hands were still shaking, as he tried a key in the lock. He pushed and wiggled it, but it was no use. “Crap,” he said, and went back to searching for the right one.
“Can’t you just snap it off? You’re a vampire,” I suggested.
“Of course.” Flustered, he clenched his fist around the padlock.
“What are you doing?”
I spun around and saw a silhouette, a figure pressed up against the door of his cage. A man. The same age as me. Maybe a little younger.
“What are you doing?” he repeated. “You’re escaping aren’t you? You’re leaving. You can’t do that. You can’t leave us here.”
“Shh!” Rhett hissed.
“Take me. Take me with you.”
My heart was racing, as I looked to Rhett for an answer. His hand was still clenched around the padlock.
“We’re taking them all, right?” It was a question I didn’t want to voice. I was afraid of the answer but, at the same time, I knew I had to ask. He gave the minutest shake of his head. My chest tightened.
“We don’t have enough time. We need to go before someone notices I’m gone. And someone will hear, if you all try to leave.” He moved to yank the padlock.
“Stop!”
“What? What is it?”
I was grabbing at my hair, turning in circles on the spot. These people, they were innocent. All of them. Was I just going to abandon them?
“So, I just leave them…” Whether it was a question or a statement I wasn’t sure.
Other prisoners were awake now. Dozens of eyes staring at us through the half-light. Unable to look at them, I turned back to Rhett.
“Save yourself,” someone called out and was immediately countered.
“You can’t leave. You can’t leave us here! Take us with you!”
“Get help! Go quickly!”
Every breath I took was shallower and faster than the one before. And it wasn’t only me. Rhett recoiled at the noise they were making. The other vampires were going to hear something was happening. My heart was beating so hard, I could barely form a coherent thought.
“Eve,” Rhett’s voice cut through the drumming. “It’s up to you. Either you come now, or not. I can’t get everyone else out. I can’t save anyone else.”
Breathless, I opened my mouth. My mind was going back and forth. I couldn’t abandon the others, could I? There were six wolves so far. Six people who had already lost their human lives, but the rest of them could still be saved. If they moved fast.
“Rhett I—”
What I was going to say, I never found out. I never discovered what my actions might have been that night. The shouts of the other prisoners faded out. Above the noise came a new one. Something far more menacing. Far more sinister. A deep and guttural growling. The hairs on the backs of my arms lifted. I backed away from the cage door and slowly turned around. All of the wolves were on their feet, teeth bared and hackles raised. Their eyes were unblinking, as they pawed the ground.
“Rhett…” I whispered. “What are they doing?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. A second later the howling began and he dashed back towards the main door.
“They’re coming. The other vampires. They’re coming. They’ll be here any moment.”
“Go!” I pushed my hands towards him. “Go. If they find you here, they’ll…” The wolves were snapping and snarling now. “Go!” I shouted.
The instant Rhett disappeared up the staircase beyond the dungeon door, the wolves fell back to the ground. The one that had been Martha began licking her muzzle as she rested on her haunches. Victor scratched his shoulder with a back leg. The savage beasts of only a moment ago, looked as placid as family pets.
I didn’t have time to dwell on the situation, as Rhett suddenly reappeared, this time with a whole group of vampires on his heels.
“What happened?” He was the first to speak, marching around the room, shaking the cages as if he was in charge of the situation. “What’s happened here?”
I could feel myself trembling. The wolves. The near escape. This Rhett, black eyed and terrifying. I knew it was just an act, yet it cut to my very core. “Will someone tell me what is going on? Or will I have to make you?”
It was then that I realised that all eyes, both vampire and human were on me. I was the one they expected to answer.
“It was… There was…” My mind raced. “There was a… a… a squirrel.”
“A squirrel?”
Several of the vampires stifled sniggers. Give him his due—Rhett managed to keep a straight face.
“I don’t know how it got in,” I continued. “The wolves went crazy.”
“And where did this squirrel go?” Dimitar spoke next.
With all the disdain I could muster, I looked him straight in the eye.
“One of them ate it,” I said.
Silence followed. I held my breath. Tension filled my ent
ire body. A moment later, the vampires erupted in laughter.
“Come on,” Dimitar said, slapping the backs of those around him. “Let’s go. Dinner’s waiting upstairs. A squirrel. Honestly.”
The room emptied almost as quickly as it had filled, the vampires eager to get back to whatever delicacies awaited them. Soon, the only two remaining were Dimitar and Rhett. Holding the door open, Dimitar beckoned him to go in front of him. There was nothing he could do. He had maintained the act far better than I could have done. He had most probably saved us all. A sense of relief relaxed my muscles. Only when Rhett was on the staircase and out of sight, did Dimitar turn back around to face me.
“The squirrel,” he said, his face creased in a frown. “How did it get into the wolf’s cage?”
“Sorry?”
“The squirrel. You said one of the wolves ate it, which means it must have got into its cage. I was just wondering how it would have fitted through the gap. The bars are pretty narrow.”
I could feel a layer of sweat beading on my forehead. He would be able to smell it, no doubt. Smell my fear. Hear the quickening of my pulse. The quivering of my lungs. He must know that I was lying. Still, I wasn’t going to give in that easily. “I guess it must have been a small squirrel,” I replied.
6
RHETT
It was the narrowest of escapes. Afterwards, I joined the party like the rest of them and finished off what Dimitar had left of my human. For the rest of the night, his eyes were on me. His distrust was palpable, even from a distance. The next night, it was the same. And the one that followed. The only way to avoid suspicion was to make sure that I did everything to please the Duchess. I brought food to the physician. Burned the body remains after the feasts. Even took a role raiding villages for food. Yet, all the time, my mind was on her. On how long she would still be Eve. And how long until she became one of those…things.
